Roux-minder: Site walk today at 5:30

[Zack Barowitz]

Meet at the factory gate: 1 Bean Pot Circle (Sherwood Street) at 5:30. We’ll end up at Float Harder (parking area at the end of Turkey’s Bridge). 

All are welcome. 

Zack 

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207-838-6120

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ZacharyBarowitz.com

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[Nathan Miller]

My personal notes and thoughts after the Roux site walk-through, partly in the form of annotated map clips... hopefully the images come through for everyone. 

• Pretty much in any scenario, there will be a nice multiuse trail along the waterfront of the Roux site
• No current plans/route to make it connect across the Maine Yacht Center to continue along water front
• Potential to connect to larger Rail-Trail project to Yarmouth as that develops
• Worst case, it would just loop you around perimeter and then connect back to Sherwood Street (which then gets you back to Veranda)
• This wouldn't be much more than a pleasant recreational stroll unless we establish useful connections to the site, discussed below. 
• Portland Trails reps indicated they are hoping to re-establish an under-295 sidewalk connection that appears to have been previous abandoned which would provide a pedestrian short-cut to Washington/Veranda intersection
• I think this is a good option, especially when you look at the walking path without this connection to get out to the primary current neighborhood amenities
  
  
  
• As for bike/ped connections to the peninsula, the current "most likely/most favored by developer" option is a bit lack-luster as far as I'm concerned. 
• They would look to establish a new multiuse path that passes under 295 at the north end of Tukey's Bridge, and then loops back to connect to the existing Back Cove Trail path on the West side of the bridge.
• I personally feel like this would be under-utilized because:
• It requires too much of a roundabout route/backtracking, especially to connect to the Eastern Prom trail.
• It makes use of the current, loud, exposed, rather unpleasant bike/ped path across Tukey's bridge
• If the only option for walking/biking has that much of a roundabout route, I can easily see people on campus just opting to Uber to the Old Port or Munjoy. 
• Obviously, it would be an AMAZING amenity (if not an out-and-out regional attraction) if the abandoned railway swing bridge could be converted to a bike/ped (and maybe future commuter rail?) bridge. I think the example of the Boothbay Footbridge shows that you can do something modest to achieve the goal, it wouldn't have to be the London Millenium Footbridge (obviously there would have to be the swing/draw bridge portion incorporated, but that could be done creatively).
    
  
• At the very least, I feel like we should advocate for the "desire path" shortest route- a new bike/ped connection across the EAST side of Tukey's bridge. 
• It sounds like the CITY is in favor of this, but I'm not sure if there is any momentum/funding sources. 
• Personally, I'd love to see something cantilevered/offset in a way that you wouldn't be walking at the same level as the traffic on the bridge, which would be more attractive from a visual and audible stand point in my opinion. Some sort of wind and or weather screen would be nice too especially to get it to be used year round, and maybe thre could be a pedestrian pull-out to admire the views of Casco Bay. Here's an example from Hawaii of adding a cantilevered pedestrian route to an existing bridge- not gorgeous, but functional.
  
  
• Finally, here are some annotations to show potential foot-routes for what I would anticipate would be a highly-desired campus-to-Old-Port walk. I think you can see why I don't love the "favored" route presented by the development team. 
• 
  

I'd love to see and hear what others envision for bike/ped improvements in the area. 

Nate Miller

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From: pb...@googlegroups.com <pb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Zack Barowitz <zbar...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2022 2:31 PM
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Subject: [PBPAC] Roux-minder: Site walk today at 5:30

 

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[Corey Templeton]

Thanks for the notes and detailed maps, Nate. 

My rambling thoughts - I'd love to see improvements made to Tukey's Bridge from a bike/ped accessibility perspective plus rebuilding the abandoned railroad bridge for use. I'm all for direct routes as opposed to designing just with recreation in mind. 

Reestablishing the under-295 sidewalk seems like an easy win for connecting the site to rest of the neighborhood. The connection to the peninsula gets trickier. The dedicated bike/ped bridge has a lot of selling points but I imagine carving out a path on the ocean side of the existing Tukey's Bridge would be more budget friendly and quicker to implement. 

Tukey's Bridge is now 62 years old, so am also curious what the remaining lifespan is and what may replace it. (It looks like Portland's "Million Dollar Bridge" lasted for 82 years, for reference). Seems that when it was first built there was a pedestrian overpass to get from Back Cove to the B&M site:

Source - https://digitalmaine.com/interstate_95/12/

[Zack Barowitz]

That brosure is a great piece of archive.

Thanks Corey!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/afb9002c-ab40-4061-ac36-d067f9abc0b1n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Clark]

Thanks Nate for sharing your notes and annotated maps. I agree that at the bare minimum, we should be pushing for a bike/ped connection which does not require crossing under Tukey's. Their plan would result in an extra 15-20 minutes of walking typically to get from the peninsula to the site compared to if it was a straight shot, something that would definitely be a deterrent to keep folks from wanting to bike or walk to the campus.

Another few points that I had in my notes from the walk:

- The site is being designed with the possibility for a direct off-ramp from 295 so it can be added "when necessary." The site will be designed to be a "ring road" with all the parking on the outskirts, being car-free throughout the campus itself. 

- IDEALS is meeting with MDOT and METRO "every few weeks" regarding the project. The developers are hoping to have the bus service to the site be so good that their first year is a record year for ridership. 

- The next Planning Board workshop on Roux is on Tuesday the 9th, with a focus on site design.

- IDEALS was interested in working with a small bike/ped advisory group with stakeholders from all relevant groups (PBPAC, Portland Trails, BCM, potentially the neighborhood associations). We can discuss this more at Monday's upcoming meeting, but it would be good to decide on a representative from PBPAC.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/CAE741VBWANp-Tm29QyH%2B%2BqtjkAjRqzcz4smd%2Bnp2SsWzK0Uthw%40mail.gmail.com.

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John Clark (he | him | his)

Chair, Portland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee

(207) 712-0480

[George Rheault]

A useful addition to this older thread:  Why is 295 routed this way (google.com)

Yes - Big Thanks to All Involved Here...

- Zack for initiating the Roux Site Walk (sorry I could not make it) and persisting through a rescheduling

- Nathan for the great follow-up

- Corey for sharing an amazing bit of (now digital) history

On Wed, Aug 3, 2022 at 10:46 PM Zack Barowitz <zbar...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Nathan Miller]

On the tour the developer mentioned that Roux Institute CURRENTLY has 800 students, but I don't think anybody asked how big then intend to grow. However, I did find this recent MaineBiz article, that states the goal is 4500 students in 20 year. No specifics in the article beyond that, but there'd also be staff, on-site startups, hospitality guests, etc on campus. So maybe upwards of 5,000-6000 people? 

Adding dorms and degrees, Portland may soon become a college town | Mainebiz.biz

Fast forward to today as the Roux Institute at Northeastern University develops an incubation hub to train workers in Maine and draw talent from around the world to work in areas such as artificial intelligence, life sciences and medical research. The hub will have 4,500 students at the Portland-based institute within 20 years.

Adding dorms and degrees, Portland may soon become a college town With higher ed schools expanding their footprints and launching new academic programs, Portland's college student population is headed toward 15,000. www.mainebiz.biz

Nate

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Sent: Wednesday, August 3, 2022 11:07 PM
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Subject: Re: [PBPAC] Roux-minder: Site walk today at 5:30

 

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[Christopher Parelius]

Yeah I agree with the straight shot as well, especially if this is a direct connection to Washington which I think would be rather popular with students. Would it be possible to connect it to the Loring Stairs?

Additionally I think linking this with the dead end sidewalk by Howies at the intersection of Washington and Veranda should be stressed. This not only would better connect Roux to Deering but it would strengthen the connection between Deering and the Peninsula.

Here's the example of Path 400 in the Buckhead Neighborhood of Atlanta that I mentioned at the sitewalk. I think how they approached their path on the sections immediately abutting the GA 400 can give us an idea how the path along the 295 exit could be implemented. 

I'm also excited at the possibility of Casco Bay Trail Alliance utilizing that rail RoW. 

-Chris

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