This summer, the cities of Portland, Saco, and South Portland are using roadway paint, flexible traffic posts, and speed bumps to temporarily redesign select streets.
The project comes after 92 people were killed in Greater Portland area traffic crashes in a four-year span. Despite being involved in just four percent of crashes, the City of Portland says pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists accounted for 40 percent of fatalities.
“These projects are about more than paint and posts,” said Andrew Zarro, Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. “They’re about protecting lives.”
The redesign is part of Vision Zero, an initiative to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries by 2045.
Tomorrow, July 8, is the official installation date for the new safety features. “If the data shows that these work, we hope to make them permanent,” said Jeremiah Bartlett, Transportation Systems Engineer at the City of Portland. Currently, the city plans to remove the temporary markers by Nov. 15.
