A woman walks across Cumberland Avenue at its intersection with Oak Street in Portland on Monday. Four pedestrians have been killed in crashes in city in the past few months. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

At the Portland City Council meeting last week, several people lined up behind the microphone to speak. They all had one message for the council: Do something about pedestrian safety.

Since November, four people have been killed by cars in Portland, and the council has faced mounting pressure to act. On March 3, members unanimously passed a last-minute resolution to commit to ending pedestrian deaths in the city.

But that resolution is nonbinding, and advocates say further action needs to be taken to improve traffic safety in the city. The Greater Portland Council of Governments, the Maine Department of Transportation and the city of Portland have been working on efforts to make streets safer for years, but many are encouraging the city to adopt a Vision Zero initiative to hasten progress.

Vision Zero is a campaign that originated in Sweden in the late 1990s and aims to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. It takes a comprehensive approach to road safety, emphasizing changes to infrastructure, laws and public education, with the ultimate goal of creating safer environments for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers and public transit users alike.

“In the past when there’s been a pedestrian death, the response in the community has often been about what the pedestrian did wrong, if they were wearing dark clothes or walking in the street. With Vision Zero, we look at larger factors, such as the design of the road or speed limits,” said Tom Bell, communications director at GPCOG.

Tiffany Smith, program manager with the Vision Zero network, said the approach prioritizes saving lives.

“We recognize that crashes will occur, but we want to make them survivable when they do occur, because people are not perfect,” she said.

More than 60 cities in the United States have adopted Vision Zero initiatives, including Yarmouth, as well as bigger cities like Boston, Seattle and Omaha, Nebraska.

Pedestrians cross Woodford Street at the intersection of Forest Avenue on Monday. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Portland Mayor Mark Dion believes that aiming to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries is a good idea, but he said that in practice, the work toward safer streets is slow and methodical, and it’s already been going on for years.

“It’s not like nothing has been done. As a matter of fact, many things have been done,” Dion said. “We might not have declared we are a Vision Zero community yet, but the collaboration has been happening.”

The city’s proposed capital improvement budget over the next two years includes increased spending on road safety projects, including improvements to Woodfords Corner.

MULTICITY EFFORT

Collaboration, Dion said, is key and perhaps more tangibly than any issue in the city, the work of improving road safety requires it. Roads stretch from Portland into neighboring communities, and the state owns several major roads, including Franklin Street and Forest Avenue.

“If people are actually looking for a long-term solution, we have to work with all our partners,” said Dion.

GPCOG recently presented its version of a Vision Zero action plan to the council’s Sustainability and Transportation Committee. The committee is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to bring the proposal forward to the full council.

A woman walks across Oak Street at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue in Portland on Monday, where a pedestrian walking sign has been knocked over. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Rick Harbison, senior planner and data manager at GPCOG, said the plan includes big and small changes that would chip away at making the city’s roads safer. Reducing speed limits, providing quicker access to emergency services, and installing more bicycle lanes and sidewalks were among the recommendations.

“The most important thing is honestly just the commitment to safety and being held accountable to that goal of zero deaths,” said Harbison. “This plan is a high-level frame of reference, so the city will need to get more specific with the individual actions that are taken.”

Those specifics could include major infrastructure projects, like the Franklin Street redesign project, or smaller safety improvements, such as installing street lights or more strictly enforcing snow removal ordinances.

WORK IN PROGRESS

For years, the city has set aside money to enhance roadway and pedestrian safety, city spokesperson Jessica Grondin wrote in an email. She said the proposed capital improvement budget for next year includes higher funding amounts than in past years.

The proposed CIP budget would allocate $10 million to transportation improvements. That includes $3.9 million in bike and pedestrian projects that will upgrade the city’s sidewalks, accessibility for residents with disabilities, bicycle safety and crossings at some of the busiest intersections.

Another $1.5 million would be set aside for multimodal transportation, which includes the Libbytown neighborhood renewal project and the Franklin Street redesign project, in addition to a handful of intersection redesigns around the city. And $1.2 million would go toward improving traffic signals around the city.

The public works department is also asking for $5.6 million over the next five years to improve the section of Forest Avenue between Revere and Bedford streets in Woodfords Corner, where one pedestrian has been killed, 20 have been injured and 15 cyclists were hurt in crashes over the last 10 years.

A pedestrian waits to cross Forest Avenue at the intersection of Woodford Street on Monday. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Andrew Zarro, president of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, said incrementally improving road safety is possible even without much funding.

“You have to start somewhere. Our cities in New England existed before cars, so we know that it’s very possible to build streets for people instead of cars. We have the bones for it,” he said.

Zarro said moves like installing high-visibility crosswalks or building curb extensions are relatively affordable steps that could save lives.

“Who gains the most from this? It’s communities that get around our city on foot and by bike because they don’t have a car,” he said. “We get what we build for. In this case, we have an opportunity to engineer our city for safety and for people, not for cars.”