Portland's Franklin Street redesign

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Franklin Street redesign to free up valuable city land

The effort to undo the 1960s project could also enlarge Lincoln Park and reunite parts of Portland.

Portland press.
By Randy Billings rbillings@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

An effort to redesign Franklin Street into a more pedestrian-friendly road could free up acres of city land at a time when Portland is in the midst of a development boom.

“It wouldn’t take long for a retail developer to come in and scoop it up,” said Frank O’Connor, a broker at NAI The Dunham Group who has brokered several real estate deals in West Bayside.

The City Council would decide what to do with the land in the right of way.

The exact amount of new real estate won’t be known until after an advisory group presents a final recommendation.

The grassy median on Franklin Street runs from Middle Street to Marginal Way. A redesign would free up acres of valuable real estate in East Bayside and downtown Portland.

The India Street neighborhood could be reconnected to the downtown by restoring the street grid. More than 100 market-rate residences are under construction in that neighborhood.

Another 24-unit market-rate condo project at Newbury and Franklin streets, which has received Planning Board approvals, has been put on hold until the Franklin Street redesign and a neighborhood planning study are completed. That property is owned by S. Donald Sussman, the majority owner of the Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

In addition to new development opportunities, the redesign could also lead to the expansion of Lincoln Park. The 2.5-acre park is only three-quarters of its previous size.

The 19-member public advisory group made up of neighborhood residents, city officials and business representatives plans to have a recommendation ready by this summer, according to Carol Morris, the spokeswoman for the project.

Residents may offer input at a public meeting being held Wednesday at the Portland Public Library. And the city has launched a Web page – franklinstreet.mindmixer.com – to collect feedback.

The Franklin Street arterial was built as part of the urban renewal movement in the 1960s. Entire neighborhoods, mostly of immigrant families, were destroyed and the India Street neighborhood was severed from the downtown to create a major thoroughfare to move traffic into and out of the city.

Other arterials, such as those along Spring, High and State streets, also were created at the time.

The road projects were recommended by consultant Victor Gruen, who is considered the father of suburban shopping malls.

Gruen originally called for Spring Street to be connected to Franklin Street, but area merchants killed the project, according to Jeremiah Bartlett, the city’s transportation systems engineer.

Gruen also called for an underground tunnel that would carry Franklin Street underneath Congress Street and Cumberland Avenue. That’s why the road has such a wide median, Bartlett said.

The effort to undo the arterial dates back to 2006, when the city’s Peninsula Traffic Study recommended widening Franklin Street to eight lanes. That proposal drew the opposition of the Bayside Neighborhood Association and the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization, according to Markos Miller, a former MHNO president who has been deeply involved with the Franklin Street redesign.

“The (traffic study) proposal failed to address many of the shortcomings of the corridor – no pedestrian facilities, few crossings, no bike access and acres of inaccessible or underutilized public space,” Miller said.

A working group completed the first phase of the redesign in 2009. The group developed three different concepts. The second phase includes a refinement or mixing of those concepts, as well construction-level designs of a final recommendation, said Michael Bobinsky, Portland’s director of public services.

“Right now (Franklin Street) is a barrier,” Bobinsky said. “The goal is to make it more of a part of the city and not like a sore thumb.”

Two of the primary objectives of the redesign are to address these shortcomings and remove the large grassy median with trees, according to Bartlett.

On Wednesday, residents will be able to weigh in on what the bike and pedestrian amenities should look like. There will be a focus on transportation choices, new development and parking, public green space, reconnecting cross streets, roundabouts, and three redesign concepts that came out of the first phase of the redesign effort.

Regarding transportation choices, residents can say whether they prefer a dedicated multi-use bike-pedestrian path or simply a shared bike lane painted in the traffic lanes.

They can also indicate how they feel about reserving land for a future fixed rail transit service, and what type of development they’d like to see along Franklin Street.

“Public process is critical along the way,” Bobinsky said.

Many Portland residents have been calling for more affordable housing in the city. Mayor Michael Brennan last week called on the city to inventory its land holdings and initiate a public discussion about which spaces should be protected and which could be developed into affordable housing.

Real estate broker O’Connor, however, was skeptical that affordable housing could work on Franklin Street. He said the office market in West Bayside is hot right now and that the land being freed up in East Bayside would be best suited for retail because of its visibility and proximity to Interstate 295.

“I think the price point on the land is going to preclude affordable housing,” O’Conner speculated

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The Parish Hall of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is visible along the right side of Franklin Street looking toward Back Cove in 1963, above, and today. The street is to be redesigned to make it more pedestrian-friendly, and a meeting this week will gather residents’ input.

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I think Franklin really divides the city. It's a waste of space and it's never a good time to travel down or across on foot or bike. Restoring the housing community that was once there would be a great move for the city. I also think an automobile tunnel should be constructed running the length of Franklin st. This would keep traffic out of the area and keep things moving from the highway to commercial.
 
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At least the MindMixer site gives you an open canvas to speak your mind. The Congress Square survey last year forced you to make choices that you potentially had no interest in, such as whether you'd be more likely to visit Congress Square to be part of a protest or a flash mob. I never made it through that one.
 
I think Franklin really divides the city. It's a waste of space and it's never a good time to travel down or across on foot or bike. Restoring the housing community that was once there would be a great move for the city. I also think an automobile tunnel should be constructed running the length of Franklin st. This would keep traffic out of the area and keep things moving from the highway to commercial.

If not a tunnel under the whole thing, then maybe at least under Cumberland and Congress Streets, though I assume cost associated with that is probably astronomical.
 
Personally, I don't see how a tunnel would necessarily be a bad thing, as it would separate autos from pedestrians, although I will note that this same proposal was made about 8 years ago and that's what in large part led to the current effort to re-envision the whole corridor, which the community and city have been doing with consultants now for a few years in various stages. Either way, something has to be done with the present street. I am confident we'll get there.
 
Also, they renamed Franklin Arterial Franklin Street -- I wonder what it would take to rename Marginal Way Bayside Avenue as called for in the Bayside Plan?
 
Here's a link with great before's and after photographs.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/Flashback-Franklin-Street-before-and-after-urban-renewal.html

You get what you pay for. This holds a lot of truth with this project. A tunnel may be costly, but Gruen's vision was to create flow of traffic and I think he achieved this with franklin St. Many commercial automobiles and tourist use the St. as a fast, non confusing way of travel to Commercial St. By rebuilding the neighborhoods this would constrict the flow of traffic, but by constructing a tunnel, not only would it be keeping to Gruen's plan, but it would also be a way for portland to step into the 21's century. Portland is Maine's largest city and it's on the rise. A responsible growing city needs to think of ways to build upward's and downward's to fully utilize the earth it resides on. Underground projects have been used in many cities across america and the world for that matter, to help create a flow of traffic. To ignore a route simply because it's out of site (underground) would simply be ignorant. We can have the best of both worlds. We can restore the neighborhoods on the surface and run Franklin St. underground for a fast track around the community strait to commercial St. If we don't spend the money here, on projects like this, then in the long run, the city will get bogged down and we will be spending twice as much to fix it in the future.

Also see: http://franklinstreet.us
 
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Quick draft with a tunnel in mind. Keeping the flow of traffic and maximizing the land for development, as well as connecting the lower hill to downtown.




 
Also, they renamed Franklin Arterial Franklin Street -- I wonder what it would take to rename Marginal Way Bayside Avenue as called for in the Bayside Plan?

Dear God, please, no. I remember seeing that in the plan when it was first brought around at the district meetings and it immediately screamed to me of lame, PHB-conceived marketing inanity. Marginal Way has been Marginal Way since before it was a road (the same name was used for the rail line that originally crossed the cove on the same or a similar path), and the last thing it needs is a name change.
 
Dear God, please, no. I remember seeing that in the plan when it was first brought around at the district meetings and it immediately screamed to me of lame, PHB-conceived marketing inanity. Marginal Way has been Marginal Way since before it was a road (the same name was used for the rail line that originally crossed the cove on the same or a similar path), and the last thing it needs is a name change.

Interesting, I didn't know the history...
 
markhb, I am in total agreement with your opinion and prefer to side with history. I am still annoyed with addition of Thames Street to our street grid and felt it should be named East Commercial.
 
Thanks! East Commercial actually exists; it's around the tail end of Marginal Way going under the bridge to the sewage treatment plant. And I didn't realize it when it was built either, but Thames Street was actually a very early name (as in, 17th century) for roughly the portion of Fore St. that is east of India; take a look on page 12 of this PDF.
 
Thanks, you enlightened me to something I was unaware of and I have now lost some of my bitterness over the Thames Street name! Still think East Commercial makes more sense due to it being nothing more than an extension of the same street. The other intersection that annoys me is Temple/Union and Spring/Middle. Wish the city would select one name for each entire length.
 
Thanks, you enlightened me to something I was unaware of and I have now lost some of my bitterness over the Thames Street name! Still think East Commercial makes more sense due to it being nothing more than an extension of the same street. The other intersection that annoys me is Temple/Union and Spring/Middle. Wish the city would select one name for each entire length.

I always found that one funny as well, seems an odd spot in the middle of the city to have four road names converge. And I still think it's confusing having Congress Street split into Park Avenue on the outbound side. I’m hoping they move forward with changing Congress back into a two-way street and removing the redundant Libbytown I-295 ramps. Anyhow, I hope some of you can make it to the Franklin Street meeting this evening.
 
I always found that one funny as well, seems an odd spot in the middle of the city to have four road names converge. And I still think it's confusing having Congress Street split into Park Avenue on the outbound side. I’m hoping they move forward with changing Congress back into a two-way street and removing the redundant Libbytown I-295 ramps. Anyhow, I hope some of you can make it to the Franklin Street meeting this evening.
(Note: some of this info came from another poster here, John French, as I don't remember it first-hand).

The 4-way name change is an artifact of Urban Renewal. Union St. was always where it is now. Originally, Temple St. went straight from Congress (the parking garage defines the original street wall), hitting Middle east of where it currently does. Middle itself (this I do remember as it lasted until the '80s) turned towards Monument Square at its intersection with Middle, a route that today is the City Center sidewalk-with-stairs. Spring St., pre-Arterial, ended at Center. The Maine Way renewal program bent Temple westward to meet Union and pushed Spring eastward to join the intersection. (I don't know how extensively they renumbered the buildings on Spring, if at all, when they moved its origin. The only place I know of that uses an address on Spring east of Center St. is Styxx, at #3.) At that point, Middle still continued to Monument Square; that lasted until One City Center was built, and the street was converted to the current pedestrian mall (and the pre-existing buildings on Middle were changed to be the even-numbered blocks of "City Center").

The last I saw, MaineDOT was essentially saying a loud "no" to the idea of eliminating the Exit 5 ramps. I'm personally not a big fan of pushing motorists down Fore River Parkway to get to the highway, either, particularly since that road's going to be plenty busy handling the added office, residential, and arena traffic from Thompson's Point.
 
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Thanks! East Commercial actually exists; it's around the tail end of Marginal Way going under the bridge to the sewage treatment plant. And I didn't realize it when it was built either, but Thames Street was actually a very early name (as in, 17th century) for roughly the portion of Fore St. that is east of India; take a look on page 12 of this PDF.

This street name must have changed since 2004? The treatment plant has an address of 500 Marginal Way. Link:http://data.rtknet.org/rmp/rmp.php?facility_id=100000161665&database=rmp&detail=3&datype=T
 
(Note: some of this info came from another poster here, John French, as I don't remember it first-hand).

The 4-way name change is an artifact of Urban Renewal. Union St. was always where it is now. Originally, Temple St. went straight from Congress (the parking garage defines the original street wall), hitting Middle east of where it currently does. Middle itself (this I do remember as it lasted until the '80s) turned towards Monument Square at its intersection with Middle, a route that today is the City Center sidewalk-with-stairs. Spring St., pre-Arterial, ended at Center. The Maine Way renewal program bent Temple westward to meet Union and pushed Spring eastward to join the intersection. (I don't know how extensively they renumbered the buildings on Spring, if at all, when they moved its origin. The only place I know of that uses an address on Spring east of Center St. is Styxx, at #3.) At that point, Middle still continued to Monument Square; that lasted until One City Center was built, and the street was converted to the current pedestrian mall (and the pre-existing buildings on Spring were changed to be the even-numbered blocks of "City Center").

The last I saw, MaineDOT was essentially saying a loud "no" to the idea of eliminating the Exit 5 ramps. I'm personally not a big fan of pushing motorists down Fore River Parkway to get to the highway, either, particularly since that road's going to be plenty busy handling the added office, residential, and arena traffic from Thompson's Point.

Spring Street actually dead ended at Center Street, before the Spring Street Arterial project.
 
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I hope they choose a design that leaves the pedestrian refuge zones in the middle of Franklin. I keep hearing how difficult it supposedly is to cross as a pedestrian, but I can usually get across at Marginal Way or Congress St in under a minute thanks to the center medians. (Yes, I ignore the walk signals because I know the timing of the lights. When I wait for them, drivers making right turns always try to run me over anyway.)

I can't see how making Lincoln park any bigger will get people to utilize it. The best thing they could do is build something beside it so people actually have a reason to go there.
 
A bit in the Phoenix about city staff recommending that city council once again take up this redesign as a transportation priority:

We're probably still a long way from any changes to Franklin, but I think it's an area where the right changes could drastically improve the city. Worth noting that even since the July 2015 report the east side of Franklin between Congress and Middle has basically been built out with 3 housing developments.

Glancing over the 2015 report reminds me of how great it would be to return Lincoln Park to its original footprint, but what kind of engineering would that require as the park edge now slopes off very quickly down to the street?

By the way I noticed another large section of fencing has been removed from the Congress Street side of the park for restoration, but at the rate they're going it's gonna take at least another ten years to restore the whole perimeter.
 

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