Rebuild Franklin Street Now

The towns around Portland are growing faster then Portland is.. We've known this for some time. Why does this matter, and how is it connected to Franklin Street?

1. Portland is still the employment hub for the region, as well as the prime location for entertainment and commerce. People will come to Portland to work, play, and shop. If these people already lived here they would not need to drive or park. However, suburbanites have few alternatives to cars- polluting the air, congesting highways and local streets, and demanding more parking.
2. Forests and farmlands are being cleared for new housing in surrounding communities. Often new roads utilities, and other infrastructure must also be built. The equivalent housing units could be built in Portland, near goods, services, and existing infrastructure- creating more tightly knit communities that could be less expensive at the macro-level.
3. At the government level, urban areas like Portland are already outnumbered by the political homogeneity of small towns and rural communities. Growing suburban communities have different interests than city centers. As these communities grow, Portland and other cities slowly lose political power- making it harder to get our needs met at the state level.
4. At approximately. 65,000 people, Portland misses out on many federal programs and benefits that are made available to slightly larger cities.

How do we better balance the needs of the people of Portland with the accommodations we make to those who visit Portland for work or play?

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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https://www.pressherald.com/2026/05/31/population-trends-in-maine-show-a-shift-to-the-suburbs

Earlier in the week we reported on another pedestrian hit on Franklin Street on Thursday, May 21st. We reached out to the Portland Police Dept. and received the following information from Sargent Benjamin Noyes:

- the incident took place on May 21 at about 7:25pm at Federal and Franklin
- witnesses described an apparently intoxicated individual stumbling into the roadway and being struck by a motorist
- the car was not traveling fast due to glare caused by the setting sun (confirmed by the responding officer)
- the victim was stable and talking when emergency services arrived
- the pedestrian was found at fault

Regardless of the state of the person hit, these crossings should be safe and sanctioned.

What can we do now to make it safer for people crossing Franklin Street?
ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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WSP's Reimagining Franklin Street Transportation report claims to be an analysis. We were hoping it would be. An analysis involves breaking a complex topic into smaller, manageable parts to understand how it works, which this report does an OK job of doing. There are no great insights, but there is nothing big that's been missed either. However, an analysis also involves identifying relationships, and drawing conclusions. We really don't see much of that in this report. That's too bad. WSP is an international firm with lots of talented, smart people, and probably has their finger on the pulse of state of the art urban design (and analysis of such) across the country. You'd think they have a lot to offer when it comes to the analysis.

Our quick top 7 fixes for Franklin Street:
1. Improve Pedestrian Infrastructure and Safety:
- increase the frequency of marked crosswalks (ideally every 300-500 feet, as per urban standards).
-address informal crossing points where desire lines are evident by formalizing these crossings.
2. Add Dedicated Bicycle Facilities
3. Enhance Transit Service and Access
4. Redesign Intersections for Safety:
-The majority of serious and fatal crashes occur at intersections, with several intersections identified as high-risk by MaineDOT and the Vision Zero Action Plan.
-Redesign intersections to reduce conflict points, shorten crossing distances, improve signal timing for pedestrians and cyclists.
5. Address Vehicular Speed and Congestion
- traffic calming measures such as narrower travel lanes and raised crosswalks
- adjust signal timing to manage congestion and improve flow.
6. Reconnect the Street Grid
7. Improve Urban Design:
-encourage mixed use development and active ground-floor uses along Franklin Street to create a multi-use street.

What would you like to see? Tell us about something that could be improved to make your walk or commute better.

We have years of posts here that get into the details of virtually every intersection, stretch of road, and pedestrian crossing. See what we've suggested for almost anywhere along Franklin Street.

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!

Last week Greater Portland Landmarks held their last transportation forum in their wonderful series. These have been fun and informative, both looking back to help explain why Portland is the wy it is today, and looking forward to the opportunities and cghallenges ahead. last weeks presentation include GPCOG's Kristina Egan, Portland Planning Director Kevin Kraft, and Bicycle Coalition of Maine's Andrew Zarro.
We caught up with Kevin after the event and learned a little bit about the status of the project.
- The WSP consultant team had recently completed the traffic modeling for their prefered draft design.
- The city had just recieved this and were pleased with how it showed traffic functioning along the corridor.
- They beleived that it satisfied maine DOT's requirements, such as preventing back ups onto the I295 mainline. (The public has never been informed of Maine DOT's exact concerns).
- The city was sending this modeling to Maine DOT for their review, and hopefully, approval.
On other occasions Kevin has said that the city is advocating for full reconnections of Lancaster, Oxfrod, and Federal St, as well as a partial reconnection at Newbury. This algins with FRA's goals for the reconnection of cross streets, and we are grateful for the city's advancement of these. We are hopeful that these are all included in the WSP draft final design.

We will now have to see how Maine DOT responds to this. How can we, the public, engage in this process or take action to ensure that Maine DOT, and the city understand what our expectations are for our future Franklin St?

Kevin also shared that a public meeting for feedback on the proposed Franklin Street redesign would be in late June or early July.
When would youlike to see such a meeting?

ReBuild Franklin Street Right, Now!
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