September 7 – After more than five decades of one-way traffic, State Street and High Street could be converted back to two-way streets within a few years.
Portland officials, after revising a proposal that was shelved in 2015 following a leadership change, want to reduce traffic accidents and improve pedestrian safety while opening the door to new infrastructure for cyclists, such as protected two-way bike lanes.
Jeremiah Bartlett, a transportation systems engineer with the city’s Public Works Department, spoke to more than 20 residents gathered at the Portland Public Library Thursday night. He said the details of the design are still being finalized, but he hopes to present the proposal to the City Council before the November elections, which could bring a changing of the guard.
“We want to continue to speak to the same people that we’ve been speaking to throughout this process,” Bartlett said. “Right now, the thought process would be that we’re going to have some sort of final judgment from the board in October.”
Bartlett said the state has already committed to replacing the traffic signals up and down both roads, and the city could pursue a bi-agency plan to integrate that work with the traffic flow redesign. He said the state has budgeted about $5 million for the project, and the city could match another 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 to get to an outcome because they’re already investing in this corridor.”
As he spoke, early attendees posted notes on two maps indicating the proposed lane changes.
Keri Lord, who has lived near the intersection of State and Deering Streets for about 40 years, welcomed the proposal. She said cars and diesel trucks tend to race across the road, away from the Casco Bay Bridge, creating unsafe conditions for locals and making it difficult to cross the street.
“It’s about speed,” Lord said. “They don’t want to have anything to do with these neighborhoods or downtown. They just want to (go where they’re going).”
East End resident Wendy Cherubini reviewed a proposed map of State Street and said the proposed design, with two lanes and space for parking on both sides of the road, “makes the street feel more like a city street.”
Cherubini said drivers currently use the roads to get to and from the bridge, speeding through residential areas without benefiting the neighborhoods. “It’s not friendly,” she said.
The 65-year-old hopes that a road more suitable for pedestrians could encourage people moving to the city to walk or use public transport.
‘A CRASH PROBLEM’
Bartlett said the city had designated four intersections and seven stretches of road between the two streets as high-accident zones, and he said most of the accidents occur when vehicles change lanes or try to avoid traffic.
“This is the reality of State and High as they exist today: They have a crash problem,” he said. “There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind.”
There have been at least 45 pedestrian accidents and at least 35 bicyclists in the past 10 years, most of which resulted in injuries, Bartlett said. He added that the switch to two-way traffic also increases pedestrians’ ability to see oncoming vehicles when they try to cross the street.
As for the impact on vehicle speed, Bartlett put it simply: “You’re driving as fast as the slowest single-lane car.”
He said public works officials will bring the proposal to the City Council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee on Sept. 11, at which point the committee could vote to forward 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 targeted for 2027. It’s not yet clear how construction will proceed, or how traffic will be rerouted while the redevelopment takes place.
While some at Thursday’s meeting supported the redevelopment, others worried that it could have unintended consequences for local residents. During a question-and-answer session, they raised concerns about parking too close to oncoming traffic or congestion in nearby side streets.
Wendy Chapkis, 70, who has lived in Parkside for more than 20 years, said she already sees stray cars driving down her street, trying to avoid traffic. She fears this will happen more often with the new, slower traffic pattern.
“I don’t like that at all. I am concerned that it would disrupt the peace that we have now,” Chapkis said.
FEWER CARS. MORE BIKES?
In 1972, all streets became one-way, after more than a century of vehicles driving in both directions.
The idea to restore traffic flow first arose in 2006 with the Portland Peninsula Traffic Plan, which stated that both streets were suitable for two-way traffic. That led to a formal study in 2015, Bartlett said.
The study found that converting the roads to two-way streets would improve pedestrian safety and local traffic flow, but would result in the loss of approximately 30 on-street parking spaces and delays for through traffic due to lower vehicle speeds.
VHB, a civil engineering firm with offices across the East Coast, completed another study in 2023. It found that traffic volumes on both streets had already dropped by about 20% since 2015, while total parking capacity had increased from 331 to 354 spaces, their analysis found.
While the city is also considering making only State Street two-way and leaving High Street one-way, Bartlett said the state strongly prefers to make both streets two-way because it creates redundancy and can promote better traffic distribution.
Redeveloping the roads could also create dedicated bike lanes on both roads, where cyclists are currently required to share lanes with motorists. However, the diagrams shared at Thursday’s meeting did not include specific plans for bike infrastructure, which Bartlett said would add costs to the city but could be tackled as a separate project. The city earlier this year shared renderings of options for bike lanes on the roads and protected bike lanes on one or both sides.
Several attendees expressed disappointment with the lack of attention to cycling infrastructure and were concerned that the city would prioritize preserving parking spaces over expanding bike lanes.
Steven Scharf, president of the West End Neighborhood Association, said the project “cannot move forward” until officials can present a complete plan for the streets, building by building.
“I’m very disappointed in the design there, which only shows the streets, not the sidewalks, not the bike lanes,” Scharf said, pointing to maps in the back of the room. “This needs to be a complete streets project.”
Bartlett acknowledged that this portion of the project is primarily focused on traffic signals, but said this focus allows the city to plan around the construction already funded by the state.
“We’re going to continue to design the other components. We’re not going to put them aside,” Bartlett said in response. “But we also know that we can’t just call Augusta and say, ‘Let’s change your work plan on the fly.’ This is a big opportunity and it allows us to make those changes not only sooner, but also at a much lower cost.”
He said balancing parking needs with car, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, while preserving the character of the two streets, would ultimately mean “fighting for every inch”.
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