DESIGN A BETTER PORTLAND

[Patrick]

Bravo Corey.

I totally agree and have thought the same ideas before (including earlier today when I was at the Fed Street Post Office). The post office is fronted by an ugly park that is unused and big enough to house a new major structure, yet the area you referred to would be pleasant even if unused because so small and directly along the street/sidewalk. I think an entrance there would be wonderful. The building is impressively sized and scaled, which is appropriate for that area, but what were they thinking about the streets? They weren't. Planning back then was not what it is today, and instead focused on procedural issued of involving people (which hardly ever meaningfully did so, though).

[Kahta]

I'd love to see a bigger jail/facility for all the homeless people-- I've been asked for change more often there than I have in Boston. The homeless people there are also more aggressive.

Add a seasonal light rail or narrow gauge train from the amtrack station to the old port-- then combine that with direct HSR @ 225 mph and portland becomes an easy place to go to lunch or walk around on a saturday.

Upgrade 295-- it's got terrible geometry, merging space, acceleration lanes, etc.

Construct Interstate 92 or at least make it much easier (interstate level of service) to get to Portland from Montreal and make it easier to get to the mountains and lakes from the turnpike.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Kahta

I'd love to see a bigger jail/facility for all the homeless people-- I've been asked for change more often there than I have in Boston. The homeless people there are also more aggressive.

Add a seasonal light rail or narrow gauge train from the amtrack station to the old port-- then combine that with direct HSR @ 225 mph and portland becomes an easy place to go to lunch or walk around on a saturday.

Upgrade 295-- it's got terrible geometry, merging space, acceleration lanes, etc.

Construct Interstate 92 or at least make it much easier (interstate level of service) to get to Portland from Montreal and make it easier to get to the mountains and lakes from the turnpike.

Neat ideas Kahta. The other day, a person asked me for 30 cents. I said all I had was debit, and he said too bad he didn't have his Droid on him with the card reader. He was joking, and then said how crazy it would be when the homeless (I think he was homeless by choice, a teen) start accepting smart phone payments.

[Corey]

The homeless/people asking for change issue is an interesting one for Portland. I live on Congress Street so I'm pretty used to being asked for change at least once a day. I always keep walking and reply "sorry, I don't have any on me." Sometimes this results in me being called a variety of curse words, but usually the person will be quiet or say thanks. It's one of those issues that has so many aspects to it that it's nearly impossible to have a coherent conversation about as a society. There's a "Task Force on Homelessness" meeting this Thursday evening at the Library if anyone is interested, here's a brief mention of it in the Forecaster.

What I originally came here to type about was the article today in the Press Herald, here, about the proposal/recommendation to change High and State Streets from one-way to two-ways. The comments from PPH readers, as usual, got my blood boiling. I know most people in this state aren't really into cities or the idea of lessening their commitment to traveling by single-occupancy automobiles, but some of the comments still seemed overly harsh. Maybe some of it is just the general resistance to change, whether the change be good/bad/neutral. So I was interested to hear some thoughts from people here. I am very open to the idea of making them two-way streets mainly due to the prospect of it slowing down traffic. However, the more I think about it, I would be fine with the streets remaining one-way if a lot of traffic calming were put into place. I think the positive impacts (pedestrian/bike safety, motorist safety, traffic noise, etc) of slowing down traffic in this area to 20mph would be really noticeable. I think the current speed limit here is 25mph, although the layout of the streets and the intersections encourages much higher speeds. Both streets are currently treated like on/off ramps from I-295 and the Casco Bay Bridge. What do you folks think?

[John_French]

I agree with you Corey. I venture into Portland every weekend. One of them, I was down on State Street below Spring Street. I could not believe the speed of the traffic headed to the bridge. I crossed when the way was clear near Gray Street, and barely made it before a big gray Mercedes came out of nowhere causing me to kick up my heels to get out of the way. I am all for anything that slows the traffic on these streets.

[Corey]

This post over in the "Transit and Infrastructure" section of the board highlights a neat article on The Atlantic Cities site about Zurich's "parking revolution." The idea of setting limits to the maximum amount of parking spaces as opposed to only setting a minimum amount is interesting to me. Boston even has it's own parking freeze program which aims to meet goals in the federal Clean Air Act and to "reduce vehicle miles traveled in the Boston area, to promote the use of public transit, and to encourage transit-related development by restricting the number of off-street parking spaces."


Not sure how to directly apply this all to Portland, but it's something to ponder. Any guesses on how much off-street parking there is in downtown Portland? I wonder if it's more or less than some other cities of our size. Good public transportation and walkability certainly relate to this, both areas that Zurich seems to excel at.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by Corey

This post over in the "Transit and Infrastructure" section of the board highlights a neat article on The Atlantic Cities site about Zurich's "parking revolution." The idea of setting limits to the maximum amount of parking spaces as opposed to only setting a minimum amount is interesting to me. Boston even has it's own parking freeze program which aims to meet goals in the federal Clean Air Act and to "reduce vehicle miles traveled in the Boston area, to promote the use of public transit, and to encourage transit-related development by restricting the number of off-street parking spaces."


Not sure how to directly apply this all to Portland, but it's something to ponder. Any guesses on how much off-street parking there is in downtown Portland? I wonder if it's more or less than some other cities of our size. Good public transportation and walkability certainly relate to this, both areas that Zurich seems to excel at.

A number of towns and cities employ parking maximums, or alternatively a less stringent standard like parking setbacks. These are both needed elements in any urbanist agenda, but it is important not to apply them too radically so that development is stifled. It is a gradual technique to employ when the time is right. There are a number of areas in Portland where this would probably work already, especially with an increased commitment to transit, but employing it near Thompson's Point or the Maine Mall, on the other hand, may not work as intended. The key word is "may" not, which means there would be enough political resistance to make it not worthwhile. Investors may alternatively not want to risk a project as a pioneer, even if it would work, because it is their money on the line. So, in some places, development would grind to a halt.

Get and read the high cost of free parking for an interesting discussion of other techniques. Thanks for sharing, Corey.

[Corey]

There was a story in the PPH today about an effort by the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG.org) to look at consolidating the public transportation organizations of Greater Portland into one. I think this is a smart move and plays into the theme of "designing a better Portland." Most other cities the size of Portland only have one transit operator and that sounds like a more efficient approach to moving people in and out of a regional hub like Portland.

[PortlandArch]

Agreed, and discussed a little bit earlier today in the Portland Transportation Center thread. Nice interview on WMPG today, Corey.

[FrankLloydMike]

Originally Posted by Corey

There was a story in the PPH today about an effort by the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG.org) to look at consolidating the public transportation organizations of Greater Portland into one. I think this is a smart move and plays into the theme of "designing a better Portland." Most other cities the size of Portland only have one transit operator and that sounds like a more efficient approach to moving people in and out of a regional hub like Portland.

Portland already has an excellent transit system for a city of its size, and this should (ideally) make it even better. Great to hear that there's no complacency, and that they're looking to improve on their strengths.

Does anyone know the back story of why South Portland pulled out of METRO in 1983?

[grittys457]

Metro is a joke and is full of bums, thugs and Corey . Let me know when we get light rail

[Corey]

PortlandArch - Thanks! It went well and I'm glad I accepted their invitation. WMPG is just college radio but it took a lot of courage for a shy person like myself to be interviewed on-air.

I haven't been in many other cities and haven't used the bus systems elsewhere, but I think FrankLLoydMike is correct in saying that Portland has a good transit system relative to its size. I do wonder what made South Portland split from the district. I can't imagine that it would have reduced costs unless the services were greatly reduced. SoPo currently has three bus routes but they cover the city pretty well.

I dream of seeing the return to light rail, Grittys. It appears that we used to have a pretty top-notch system of trolleys at the turn of the last century. Although it's not as glamorous and tends to attract a less desirable clientele (just generalizing based on what I see), there are benefits to a strong bus network as well. There's no reason it has to be an either/or choice between rail and bus.

[FrankLloydMike]

Originally Posted by grittys457

Metro is a joke and is full of bums, thugs and Corey . Let me know when we get light rail

A joke? I've taken Metro buses on a number of visits, and I've problem ridden Metro buses more times than I've ridden the MTA in my hometown of Manchester. I will admit that the MTA's buses are generally much cleaner and seem newer, but Metro buses come so much more frequently and the routes are much more direct. Part of that stems from a geography that naturally works to funnel buses from outlying areas along major corridors to major nodes on the peninsula. But it also results from having buses 20 minutes or so along major routes on and off the peninsula. A lot of much larger cities don't enjoy nearlt hat level of service. Obviously, improvements could be made--even more direct routes, more frequent service in some areas, and service that runs later in the evening and weekends. Hopefully, creating a more regional transit system will also mean some improvements in public transit for Portland and the region.

As far as light rail goes, I'd love to see Portland implement it somehow, and I'm heartened to see the level of discussion and interest in by officials in the area. But for a city of well under 100k--even one with as large a tourism base as Portland--light rail may not be a viable option. I hope it, and think it could be. But in the meantime (and even if light rail is ever built), a good bus system is also necessary. Metro is a solid basis for that.

[Davepacz]

Back in the mid 2000s there was some interesting research going on with dual-mode vehicles - passenger transit that operated both as a bus and a rail vehicle - the japanese version
and the brit version

The Japanese and the British, however, have a decent rail system - these would only be used in tiny rural areas. In the US, I always wondered what kind of stepping stone this could provide to a public transit system graduating to light rail. Particularly New England, where the density exists, the unused rail exists, but cities have grown away from the areas where that rail exists. Collector bus routes meet up as a train route, then bypass heavy traffic areas.