Two women cross Franklin Street at the corner of Middle Street on Tuesday. The City Council will meet Wednesday night to hear the latest proposal from a council committee on the redevelopment of Franklin Street. The plan would call for eliminating the median and shrinking the roadway, opening up more room on either side of the road for new development.

When it was built, Franklin Arterial was intended to make it more convenient for drivers to get in and out of Portland, in the hope that would draw more economic development. The idea now is to weave Franklin Street back into the fabric of the city.

This section of the four-lane Franklin Street stretching from Congress Street toward Commercial Street shows how the wide, three-quarter-mile arterial connecting Interstate 295 with the waterfront separates Portland’s downtown and Old Port and is difficult for pedestrians to cross.

A view of Franklin Street looking southeast toward Portland harbor in 1966, at left, and in 1970, after the arterial had been created.

A view of Franklin Street looking northeast toward Back Cove in 1966, at left, and in 1982.

A man crosses the Franklin Street on the eastbound side Tuesday. Sidewalks weren’t installed along the arterial purposely, to keep pedestrians away.