Concerned citizens on the Knightville Traffic and Parking Committee are pursuing their firm commitment to see Ocean Street between E and D streets, and A Street, returned to two-way traffic.

The Bridge and Comprehensive Plans clearly state that business development should occur on the major arterials, Waterman Drive and Ocean Avenue, and the character of the letter street neighborhoods be retained, discouraging their use for “cut-through” traffic.

But most traffic leaving the E to D block exits onto D and tripled traffic on Knightville’s narrowest street, rendering it unsafe and impossible for emergency vehicles to navigate.

The one-way/angled parking experiment was undergone at the behest of a few business owners, who have so far blocked all attempts by residents to reintroduce two-way traffic.

Arguments used to keep the new traffic and parking patterns include lack of parking, customer ease in parking, shopping, leaving, and assertions that certain stores will go out of business if the traffic pattern reverts to two-way.

A recent study by Sebago Technics shows that only 50 percent of available parking is presently used. Two-way traffic offers the greatest number of choices for drivers. New businesses are developing on the two-way blocks and doing well.

The Knightville “grid” is simply too small for confusing one-way streets, there’s enough parking, and a return to two-way traffic will invite both the residential and the business environments to flourish.

A workable solution for all of Knightville will emerge if residents, the business community and the city can work together.

Joe Walker

South Portland

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