Requesting Email Reminders/Facebook Posts - Re: Planning Walks and Neighborhood Meetings – April 26 and April 27
Bruce Hyman
Forest Avenue “Smart Corridor” Planning Walks and Neighborhood Meetings – April 26 and April 27 at 5 PMThe Portland Planning Department, in conjunction with the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System (PACTS) and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, will be holding a neighborhood engagement event to kick off a planning study along the Forest Avenue – Route 302 corridor. This joint Portland/South Portland transportation study will look at opportunities for improving vehicular, transit, walking, and biking facilities from Morrill’s Corner along Forest Avenue through Woodfords Corner, Deering Oaks Park, State Street and High Street, the Casco Bay Bridge, and eastern Broadway in South Portland. The study will also examine the relationship between future land development and transportation capacity.On Wednesday April 26, City staff and consultant team members will lead an interactive walk along Forest Avenue from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. The walk will be followed by a meeting to be held 6:00 – 7:30 PM; the meeting will begin with a brief presentation on issues and opportunities in the corridor, followed by ample opportunity for participants to provide input. The walk will start at 5:00 PM at the plaza in front of the Glickman Family Library at the University of Southern Maine, on Forest Avenue near Bedford Street. The meeting will be held beginning at 6:00 PM in the USM Abromson Community Education Center at 88 Bedford Street. See attached map and flyer.On Thursday April 27, City staff and consultant team members will lead an interactive walk along Forest Avenue from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. The walk will be followed by a meeting to be held 6:00 – 7:30 PM; the meeting will begin with a brief presentation on issues and opportunities in the corridor, followed by ample opportunity for participants to provide input. The walk will start at 5:00 PM in front of the closed Wok Inn restaurant in Morrill’s Corner, on Forest Avenue near Allen Avenue. The meeting will be held beginning at 6:00 PM in the WCHP Lecture Hall, #8 Parker Pavilion on the University of New England Portland campus at 716 Stevens Avenue. See attached map and flyer.You can visit the study website at www.mainesmartcorridor.com for more information, and to follow the progress of the study. If you have any questions, please contact Bruce Hyman, City of Portland Transportation Program Manager, at bhy...@portlandmaine.gov.Please share with anyone you think would be interested.Thank you.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig FreshleyGood Group Decisions98 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine 04011Are you part of a group? I can help you with that. Tips, Videos, and Handouts-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transportation Program Manager
Transportation Division
Department of Planning & Urban Development
389 Congress Street
Portland, Maine 04101
(207) 874-8717 phone
bhy...@portlandmaine.gov
http://www.portlandmaine.gov/1363/Transportation-Division
Yes! Transportation's Good Here ....
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Nathan Miller
I went to the session last night (thanks Bruce). Here is my brief report.
A hardy group of half-dozen-or-so of us walked around a bit in the pouring rain. A few more showed up for the presentation portion.
There was mostly representatives of various neighborhood and civic groups, a few neighbors, and a few business owners.
Definitely some concern was expressed by at least one of the business folks about anything that would reduce parking (not surprisingly). There was some discussion about if the private parking lots could be organized and operated in a more efficient way.
Probably half the folks who showed up really wanted to focus on the High St / State St two-way reversion.
My personal soap box topic was to encourage a significantly more pedestrian inviting (not just ped friendly) treatment for at least the USM -> Woodford corner stretch. I live nearby, but essentially never walk Forest, meaning the businesses are missing out on my "drop in" dollars.
For the people who stuck around for the presentation, there was clear support for improving ped and bicycle experience in the area. Seemed like most were in favor of the route becoming more focused on serving the adjacent neighborhoods and less on being a throughway for in-and-out of town traffic. The consultants pointed out that there weren't really any large-employer-stakeholders in the room, whose top priority might be facilitating their employees' commutes. There was at least one person in attendance who lives in Cape Elizabeth but commutes to his commercial property on Forest (by bike no less), but I don't think there were any other out-of-town commuters represented.
The consultants presented some data extracted from the Strava fitness tracking app showing some of the preferred bike and ped routes in the area (keeping in mind that it was slanted towards exercise activities, and probably doesn't catch folks waiting for the bus, for example). They also showed overlapping data with the spots with highest vehicle collisions (with bikes or peds). Somehow Forest manages to be both avoided by pedestrians AND simultaneously one of the routes with a relatively high pedestrian collision rate. Telling...
All of their data analysis so far has been based on extracting information from existing studies and data sources. There will be some project specific data collection not too far down the road.
Reminder that there is another walk and discussion tonight, focusing on the far end of the project- Morrill's Corner and UNE area. Details in Bruce's email below.
Nate
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 4:58 PM
To: in...@backcoveportland.org; bnapo...@gmail.com; Councilor Leeman2; wona.p...@gmail.com; Samantha Herr; sha...@bikemaine.org; Deering Center Neighborhood Association; in...@trails.org; cha...@portlandregion.com; Ann Lebel; in...@liveworkportland.org; Tyler Kidder; h...@une.edu; natali...@maine.edu; in...@ccmaine.org; cb...@mekids.org; Linda Weare; advo...@drme.org; in...@smaaa.org; as...@theiris.org; in...@mainestartupandcreateweek.com; in...@liveandworkinmaine.com; Portland Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee; Nikki Anderson; Teresa Valliere; Ian Jacob
Cc: Jeff Levine; Codd, Ned; Jennifer Munson; Troy Moon; Craig Freshley
Subject: [pbpac] Requesting Email Reminders/Facebook Posts - Re: Planning Walks and Neighborhood Meetings – April 26 and April 27
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