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From plea for safety, a plan for traffic
February 3, 2007
Thousands of people use outer Congress Street as their route into Portland each day, whether they're driving to work, school or another destination in Maine's largest city.
Others use the busy arterial, which is part of routes 22 and 9, to reach the Portland International Jetport, the Maine Turnpike and the Maine Mall area in South Portland.
Jackie Potter and other residents of the city's Stroudwater and Libbytown districts see the four-lane road a bit differently.
"This is where we live," said Potter, a Stroudwater resident. "These are people's neighborhoods."
Stroudwater and Libbytown residents say they want to be able to walk, bicycle and drive more easily in their own neighborhoods, and the city has heard them.
Portland's public works department has developed a $2 million, four-phase proposal that's designed to strike a balance between residents' concerns and the need to better control and slow traffic on outer Congress. The first phase could start as early as this year.
The proposal consists largely of re-striping and reducing the number of travel lanes in certain sections. It also would better coordinate and increase the number of traffic lights and add sidewalks and crosswalks. Similar changes were made on Brighton Avenue in the late 1990s.
The proposal is the result of a $20,000 study that will be the subject of a City Council workshop at 5 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The plan was developed by Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers of Gray with help from a neighborhood committee that included Potter.
The study area runs from Interstate 295 to Johnson Road. It is lined with homes and businesses, including the West Gate Shopping Center and several medical office buildings. Today, the stretch of outer Congress carries about 21,000 vehicles per day. That number is expected to increase to about 25,000 vehicles per day by 2015, city officials said.
The study showed significant backups at some intersections along outer Congress Street, especially at Stevens Avenue and Westbrook Street during rush hours.
At a recent study committee meeting, some Stroudwater and Libbytown residents said they're not concerned that the proposed changes may slow traffic and increase congestion.
"I don't want to alter our traffic policy so that someone from Buxton can get to work and get home faster," said Elizabeth Hoglund, another Stroudwater resident.
Some people who use the road as a commuter route have a different view.
Adam Stevens and Casey Horowitz live in downtown Portland and often drive outer Congress to work in the mall area, especially when traffic is backed up on Interstate 295. They said they're concerned that the proposed changes would force them to avoid outer Congress as well.
"It's going to mess everything up," Stevens said. "Congress Street is a commuter route whether you like it or not."
The proposal calls for re-striping three sections of outer Congress to reduce the number of travel lanes from four to three, including a center turning lane. The three-lane sections would be near International Parkway, Westbrook Street and Stevens Avenue.
Because widening the road would be too expensive, the proposal also calls for reducing the width of travel lanes from 12 to 11 feet. That would allow the widening of safety shoulders and the addition of sidewalks and bicycle lanes where needed.
"I think the bike lanes definitely would be great. Portland doesn't have enough of them," said Christopher Edwards, who lives in downtown Portland and regularly bikes and walks along outer Congress.
Sharon Orlando, principal of St. Patrick School at 1342 Congress St., served on the study committee and said she would welcome the changes. Her students regularly cross the street, under teacher supervision, to attend Mass at St. Patrick Church.
"Anything that enhances the students' safety has our complete support," Orlando said.
Typical of most road projects in the city, the work would be done with a combination of federal, state and local money, said Kathi Earley, Portland's engineering services manager.
City Councilor Donna Carr and the public works department will present the proposal on Monday with the goal of winning council support. The road work may require capital improvement borrowing in the future, Earley said.
Michael Bobinsky, Portland's public works director, said the council may endorse the Congress Street improvement plan by consensus Monday night, at which point his staff would start developing a schedule to pay for and do the work.
Bobinsky said the council also may decide to send the plan to its transportation committee for further study. After that, the council may be asked to vote on the proposal as a nonbinding resolution and consider funding various phases in the future.
Whether all four phases will be done remains to be seen. Potter and other study committee members hope they will.
"We think this is a very good first step," Potter said. "We want the city to act quickly on this."
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: