Portland Trails installed colorful dots and flexible posts on Diamond Street to draw drivers’ attention to pedestrians. Contributed / Portland Trails

Over the summer, Portland Trails modified intersections it deemed unsafe for pedestrians on three streets in Portland. Working with neighborhood associations and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Portland Trails painted curbs and placed flexible posts along the road intended to get distracted drivers to focus and speeding drivers to slow down. While these traffic-slowing demonstrations are temporary, neighbors say they have been effective in slowing traffic.

“Our impressions, certainly from all the pedestrians and vice versa, has been overwhelmingly favorable,” said West End Neighborhood Association board member Gregory Farino, whose volunteers helped monitor traffic. “I would say the only negative feedback that I’ve heard has been perhaps from some drivers who didn’t like the idea of having to slow down at an intersection.”

Portland Trails placed traffic slowing demonstrations on Brighton Avenue, Danforth Street and Diamond Street at two intersections on each road. To install the projects, Portland Trails submitted an application to the city of Portland and consulted a city engineer. All traffic-slowing installations were funded through the nonprofit Portland Trails and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

With the help of volunteers from the Libbytown Neighborhood Association and the West End Neighborhood Association, Portland Trails positioned flexible posts on the side of the street at intersections to make the roadway appear narrower, which prompts drivers to slow down. The brightly painted corner curbs visually extend the curb and are intended to alert drivers that pedestrians may be present and waiting to cross. On Diamond Street, a pathway of colorful dots helps guide pedestrians to walk alongside the road safely where no sidewalk is present and remind drivers that foot traffic may be in the area. The organizations also placed temporary speed bumps where Diamond Street intersects with the Bayside Trail.

The projects are a low-cost test of concept that would demonstrate how the city could invest in a more permanent and costly pedestrian safety design, according to the Portland Trails website. The flexible posts will be removed this fall before snowfall and the paint will fade over time unless it is repainted next year, said Jaime Parker, the trails and active transportation manager for Portland Trails.

Foot traffic has increased over the past few years on Diamond Street and Brighton Avenue because of business and housing construction. In addition to being low cost, the temporary demonstrations can be quickly installed  to protect pedestrians, as compared to projects carried out by the city, said Parker.

“Larger infrastructure projects can take five years or 10 years to realize, but we know that with some pretty low-cost and quick intervention, we can actually make a significant and immediate improvement in the function of some of these locations,” he said.

Portland Trails primarily focuses on bike and foot trails independent of roadways, but during the summer of 2023 the organization took over a traffic-slowing project at the five-way intersection at Gorham’s Corner when the Bicycle Coalition of Maine temporarily lost capacity for the project. The temporary proof-of-concept project included two crosswalks, ADA-accessible wheelchair ramps, and visually extending the curb with paint and murals on the asphalt.

“Portland Trails is interested in traffic calming, because we are concerned with a safe and walkable city,” said Parker.

“We think it’s important to not only create a great trail system and improve the trail system so that people can use it for transportation, but also create safer streets,” he said.

The painted curb is intended to bring attention to pedestrians waiting to cross Brighton Avenue. Contributed / Libbytown Neighborhood Association

As Portland Trails continued working on pedestrian safety project this summer, the organization collected pedestrian safety data at the three sites before the traffic-slowing modifications were made, and again when they were in place. With the help of volunteers, they monitored the speed of cars in the area and how many cars passed a pedestrian at an intersection before they were given the right of way to cross the road. Portland Trails found that following the installation of the traffic-slowing projects, car speed decreased and awareness of people waiting at crosswalks increased.

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine collaborated with Portland Trails to install the Diamond Street traffic slowing demonstration. In addition to sharing similar values about pedestrians, cars and cyclists sharing the road, the organizations share on office on Diamond Street and had observed vehicles driving faster than the speed limit down the street, said Paul Drinan, the active transportation director of Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

“You don’t need to be a traffic engineer to look at that. See speeding cars, see the fact that there’s no sidewalk, and understand that we need to make some changes in order for all people to be safe,” said Drinan.

An extended curb on Danforth Street. Contributed / West End Neighborhood Association

The West End Neighborhood Association approached Portland Trails about installing traffic-slowing modifications on Danforth Street after the issue of speeding cars was raised at a board meeting. Its board was impressed with Portland Trawils’ pedestrian safety project at Gorham’s Corner last year.

“The speed of the vehicles and the density of the vehicles (on Danforth Street) seems to be increasing, perhaps as it has on other streets that are being seen as cut-throughs,” said Farino.

Twenty volunteers from the West End neighborhood came to help Portland Trails with the data collection and traffic slowing installation over the course of five days this summer.

The neighborhood noticed a decrease in the speed of vehicles immediately after the installation, said Farino, although he noted some still drive “recklessly.”

Despite some negative feedback from drivers, Drinan and Parker both said that the projects improve conditions for everyone on the road.

“Something that’s important to remember is, when we make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists, it by default becomes safer for motorists,” said Drinan.

“It’s not about drivers versus pedestrians, it’s about good road design in a setting that everybody can share the space and use the space safely. Cars (can) still be able to move through, they just will do it at a more safe speed. It’s a win-win,” said Parker.