Franklin Street meeting update
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Christian MilNeil
Jan 17, 2019, 1:10:58 AM1/17/19
to pb...@googlegroups.com, Markos Miller
Hi PBPAC (cc'ing Markos in case he wants to share with his Franklin Street email list),
A few notes from tonight's meeting (this was the public meeting about Franklin Street, not the simultaneous city council sustainability committee meeting which was upstairs and discussed the same project – I didn't attend that one but we can watch the recording on the city's Facebook page)...
- The "phase 1" (from 295 to Whole Foods) project is lined up to get funding* from the city council this month (*if the council approves it, which may not be a sure thing...)
- The current plan is for the state to pay for the I-295 ramps (north of Marginal), for $1.4 million, and City of Portland would pay for everything else, for $4.3 million.
- This split of the costs is very unlike most state projects, where federal/state funds typically pay 80% of a road construction project.
- City Councilor Cook afterwards (outside the meeting) expressed a lot of skepticism about whether the Council could or should sign on to this arrangement.
- Cook was also incredulous that we'd spend $4.3 million in local funds on a project to accommodate more traffic when all our city policies say we want to encourage alternate modes...
- And inquiring minds also want to know why are we designing a road for more traffic when, unless we cut driving everywhere in half within the next decade, this entire project (source: NOAA) will be under the mean high tide line by 2060 anyhow?
- And even a traffic engineer might wonder: why spend all this money to try and move more traffic through the Franklin/Marginal intersection and onto the I-295 ramps at rush hour, when I-295 itself is already jammed during rush hours?
- The upshot: while the city council usually rubber-stamps MDOT plans, I think they might push back more in this case, both to save $$$ and to get a less car-oriented project here. Maybe the MDOT under Janet Mills might be more amenable to plan for a climate-habitable future? Or at least shamed into spending money on a project that won't just be mired in more congestion as soon as it's built?
- I think we should advocate (and ask them to advocate) for a slimmer, value-engineered refinement of the current plan, with less pavement for the city to maintain and to free up more taxable land for mixed use redevelopment.
- I spoke with city traffic engineer Jeremiah Bartlett and he seemed open to the possibility of a slightly slimmer, cheaper project – the plans aren't so far along that they can't be adjusted to reduce the street width or shift the alignment in a few key locations.
- But I think we should also stress to the city council that moving the Franklin Street plan forward in some form is important, otherwise we'll just languish with the status quo for another 5-10 years (or forever...).
Most of the meeting actually discussed the city's/state's refinements of the Franklin Street plan for the entire length of the street, and the biggest, most exciting changes (not funded yet) are all outside the scope of this first project. Encouragingly, the city and state have value-engineered the original plan since the concept was adopted in 2015 in order to make several intersections smaller and minimize grade differences with the historic cross-street connections (eliminating the big Franklin Street embankments at Oxford Street, for instance, by running the new street more or less where the median is now). Thanks to that, the rest of the project will be more affordable than originally presumed, so that's good news.
I took a bunch of photos of the blown-up plans so you all can see them on Dropbox, here:
Christian MilNeil
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Nick Kaufmann
Jan 17, 2019, 1:22:01 AM1/17/19
to PB...@googlegroups.com, Markos Miller
+1 on everything thanks for all your hard work both of you
Nick Kaufmann
Civic Technologist & Charitable Mechanic
Be Just & Fear Not
Cultivate The Karass
(C.C. // MIT // CERNOH)
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Markos Miller
Jan 19, 2019, 8:14:43 PM1/19/19
to Portland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
I think the City Council should commit to a full build out of the Franklin Master Plan, realizing the gains in land use, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. If it will not do this, then local money should not be spent on the auto-centric investments on the northern block that are being presented to the Council. The "short term recommendations" presented by the City should be fully rejected. They do not achieve the vision or intent of the Franklin Plan.
Tony Donovan
Jan 19, 2019, 9:37:06 PM1/19/19
to PB...@googlegroups.com
The "vision" of Franklin Arterial is more road, more asphault, more reliance on fossil fuels, and more delays in real solutions to congestion, greenhouse gas pollution and climate change. The "vision" is based on a bunch of MeDOT engineers and planners with no concept - or leadership on the need to address alternatives.
I may be repeating myself , but again I say, what a disappointment to be in a city full of progressives so reliant on a transportation system that has led to this.
Marcos, walk down to india street, look at that unused rail corridor. You own it. It connects to every town in southern maine, and on to Boston and Montreal. Think of a future where you are not reliant on cars, taxes for cars, land use rules for cars. Step outside that box. Think of the future you are offering your children. It cannot be based on oil.
This can be done.
Tony Donovan
Train Time
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Tony Donovan
Jan 19, 2019, 9:37:47 PM1/19/19
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