Portland considers reverting High and State streets to two-way traffic

Sep. 7—After more than five decades of carrying single-direction traffic, State and High streets may be transformed into two-way roads again within the next few years.

Portland officials, revising a proposal that was back-burnered with a change of leadership in 2015, want to reduce the number of vehicle crashes and improve pedestrian safety — while opening the door to new infrastructure for cyclists, such as protected, two-way bike lanes.

Speaking to more than 20 residents gathered at the Portland Public Library Thursday night, Jeremiah Bartlett, a transportation system engineer with the city’s Department of Public Works, said the details of the design are still being finalized, but he hoped to present the proposal to the City Council before the November election brings potential turnover.

“The same folks we’ve been talking to during this process, we want to continue talking to them,” Bartlett said. “Right now, (the) thought process would be we get some sort of final verdict from the council in October.”

Bartlett said the state already has committed to replacing the signals up and down both roads, and the city could pursue a two-agency plan to integrate that work with redesigning traffic flows. He said the state has budgeted around $5 million for the project, and the city could supplement an additional 25% to 30% — roughly $1.5 million to $1.75 million — to support the proposed traffic changes.

“In some ways, the timing for this is even better” than it was in 2015, Bartlett said in an interview before his presentation. “It’s just going to be easier to work with Maine DOT on getting to an outcome because they’re already investing in this corridor.”

As he spoke, attendees who arrived early stuck notes to a pair of maps illustrating the proposed lane changes.

Keri Lord, who has lived near State’s intersection with Deering Street for around 40 years, welcomed the proposal. She said cars and diesel trucks tend to speed down the road heading away from the Casco Bay Bridge, creating unsafe conditions for locals and making it difficult to cross the street.

“It’s a matter of the speed,” Lord said. “They don’t want anything to do with these neighborhoods or downtown. They just want to get (where they are going).”

Looking over a proposed map of State Street, East End resident Wendy Cherubini said the proposed design, which includes two single lanes of traffic and room for parking on both sides of the road, “makes it more like a city street.”

Cherubini said drivers currently use the roads to get to and from the bridge, rushing through residential zones without benefiting the neighborhoods. “It’s not friendly,” she said.

The 65-year-old added that she hopes a more pedestrian-geared road could help encourage people moving into town to embrace a walking or public transit-oriented lifestyle.

‘A CRASH PROBLEM’

Between the two streets, Bartlett said, the city had identified four intersections and seven segments of road as high-crash zones, noting that many of the collisions occur as vehicles attempt to change lanes or skirt congestion.

“This is the reality of State and High as they exist right now: They have a crash problem,” he said. “There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind.”

There have been at least 45 crashes involving pedestrians and at least 35 involving bicycles — most of which left people injured — over the last 10 years, Bartlett said. He added that transitioning to two-way traffic also increases pedestrians’ ability to see oncoming vehicles when attempting to cross the street.

In terms of the impact on vehicle speeds, Bartlett put it simply: “You go as fast as the slowest car with one lane.”

He said public works officials will present the proposal to the City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee on Sept. 11. From there the committee could vote to bring the proposal to the broader council.

If the council endorses the plan and the state agrees to a partnership, the design process could begin “in earnest” next year, Bartlett said, with construction aimed for 2027. It’s not yet clear how construction could play out, or how traffic might be rerouted while the redevelopments take place.

And while some at Thursday’s meeting supported the redevelopment, others worried it could carry unintended consequences for local residents, expressing concerns during a question-and-answer session about parking too close to oncoming traffic or congestion spilling into nearby side streets.

Wendy Chapkis, 70, has lived in Parkside for more than 20 years and said stray cars already drive down her street trying to dodge traffic, and she worried that could become more frequent with a new, slower traffic pattern.

“That does not appeal to me at all. I’m quite concerned that it would destroy the quiet that we now have,” Chapkis said.

FEWER CARS. MORE BIKES?

The streets were each made one-way in 1972, after carrying vehicles both ways for more than a century.

The idea of restoring that traffic flow first arose with the 2006 Portland Peninsula Traffic Plan, which suggested that both streets could feasibly accommodate two-way traffic, prompting a formal study in 2015, Bartlett said.

That study found that converting the roads to two-way routes would likely improve pedestrian safety and local circulation, but would require losing about 30 on-street parking spaces and create delays for through traffic due to decreased vehicle speeds.

VHB, a civil engineering company with locations up and down the East Coast, completed another study in 2023, finding that traffic volumes on both streets had already fallen about 20% from 2015, while overall parking capacity rose from 331 to 354 spaces, according to their analysis.

While the city also is considering making only State Street two-way and leaving High Street as a one-way, Bartlett said the state strongly prefers making both streets two-way roads, as it creates redundancy and may encourage better distribution of traffic.

Redeveloping the roads also could create dedicated bicycle lanes on both roads, where riders are currently asked to share the lane with vehicle traffic. The diagrams shared at Thursday’s meeting, however, did not include specific plans for bicycle infrastructure, which Bartlett said would create additional costs for the city but could be addressed as a separate project. The city shared renderings earlier this year of options for bicycle lanes on the roads and protected bicycle lanes on one or both sides.

Several attendees said they were disappointed by the lack of attention to cycling infrastructure, and they worried the city may prioritize saving parking spaces over expanding bike lanes.

Steven Scharf, president of the West End Neighborhood Association, argued that the project “cannot continue” until officials can provide a complete plan for the streets, from building to building.

“I’m very disappointed in the design back there, that only shows the streets, doesn’t show the sidewalks, doesn’t show the bike lanes,” Scharf said, pointing to the maps at the back of the room. “This has got to be a complete street project.”

Bartlett acknowledged that this segment of the project is mostly focused on traffic signals, but said that focus allows the city to plan around the state’s already-funded construction.

“We are going to continue working on design for the other components. We’re not setting those aside,” Bartlett said in response. “But we also know that we can’t really just call Augusta and say ‘Let’s change your work plan on a dime.’ This is a large opportunity and will allow us to start making these changes not only sooner, but at a lot less cost.”

He said balancing parking needs with vehicle, pedestrian and cycling traffic, all while attempting to preserve the two streets’ characters, would ultimately mean “fighting for every inch.”

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