This is an exciting time for transportation infrastructure in Portland, (and yes, transportation infrastructure can be exciting.) There are currently major projects or opportunities at all four of I-295’s exits in Portland. Keep your eyes peeled for road construction crews, because the dump trucks, loaders, and excavators aren’t just toting sand and gravel – they’re bringing a paradigm shift. We are beginning to see some actual commitment to change.
It all started with the “Reimagining Franklin Street,” and over the 20 years since, activists have been calling for an end to the reign of the “stroad” in Portland. After Franklin Street, reforming eyes looked to Exit 5, (until recently known as the “Denny’s Exit,”) and a city study group was established to look at removing redundant offramps and restoring two-way traffic along Congress St. and Park Ave. Keeping the ball rolling, another study group formed to analyze State and High Streets, and they also recommended the restoration of calmer two-way traffic and the return to pleasant downtown streets, as opposed to the status quo of makeshift highway spurs and quasi-industrial bridge connections.
The late 20th century was dominated by the priorities of the highwaymen, but for two decades now, the tide has finally turned. There’s been broad support among Portland’s residents and representatives for these initiatives and others, such as two-way traffic to Elm and Preble. Sadly, however, these reports spent a long time gathering dust, as they lacked support from the state-level Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT), essential if these plans are to become reality.
But the winds are blowing in our favor now, as even the Federal and State DOTs are beginning to take an enlightened approach. Roaring ahead at the speed of government, all four of Portland’s highway exits may soon be the sites of exciting projects. For the benefit of the public who may not be quite in the loop, here is an exit-by-exit rundown:
Exit 5
The City and MDOT convened a task force to analyze Exit 5 in response to the high number of crashes which happen there. The task force [of which the author was a member] studied redundant ramps and the one-way streets around the exit, which aren’t just inconvenient, they’re plagued by delays from the trains crossing Congress Street and occasional flooding under the Park Avenue trestle. (Who would have expected water flowing under a bridge?) Modern interchange ramps built relatively recently on the Fore River Parkway project appeared to provide the justification for removing some of the interchanges, (there’s a total of eleven interchanges around Exit 5.)
The task force report recommended the removal of three of the four ramps on Congress Street, (retaining the Fore River Parkway interchanges and one on Park Ave) and the restoration of two-way traffic on Congress and Park. Unfortunately, objections from MDOT, the Maine Medical Center, and other political machinations thwarted the proposal when it came before the Council.
However, Portland (including former City Manager Jon Jennings) never stopped supporting the project, and the city has made incremental improvements along the corridor. More recently, Portland’s legislative delegation and MDOT finally agreed to look seriously at restoring two-way traffic on Congress and Park, and taking the proposed ramp removal off the table. The only remaining roadblock – lack of adequate funding – was alleviated this spring by a $22 million “Reconnecting Communities” grant from the federal DOT. The program, initiated by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is a response to decades of destruction by routing urban highways through underserved neighborhoods and communities of color. (I cannot help but recall that Secretary Pete’s father is a prominent Gramsci scholar; perhaps this plays a role in the department’s efforts to challenge the hegemony of urban highways.)
The new project envisions a traffic circle under the overpass and other streetscape improvements with completion slated for 2028. The first step was the purchase and demolition of the Denny’s at that location, which is now being used as a staging area for road construction. Late-night diners have been left to fend for themselves.
Exit 6
It is purported that the one-way traffic on State and High Streets saves a minute of travel time for travelers going from the Casco Bay Bridge to the highway. However, the configuration adds four minutes to get from South Portland to a place like Salem Street in the West End by obliging motorists to take a right, a left, a left, a left, and a right … all to end up straight ahead. The project to reconfigure this rat’s nest of one-ways did not have the support of then City Manager, Jon Jennings. Citing delays to emergency vehicles, the manager trotted out then Police Chief Mike Sauschuck who testified that the department prefers one-way streets and “avoids Congress Street like the plague”. In an attempt to bolster the argument David Brennerman, serving as Councilor for District 5, suggested that traffic is necessary because “Portland is the economic engine that drives the state.” I can still remember the rejoinder by Kevin Donoghue, then District 1 Councilor:
“Creating high-speed traffic through Portland isn’t ‘the economic engine that drives the state’, having people drive around in circles isn’t ‘the economic engine that drives the state’, adding distance to thousands of trips isn’t ‘the economic engine that drives the state.’”
Alas, the support was still not forthcoming then. The issue was tabled for nearly a decade, but the MDOT is now considering it as part of a resignalling project, which is the major expense of a two-way restoration. With the desire to reclaim city streets being felt more keenly than ever, today’s city government seems primed to embrace the reconfiguration. The City Council must act quickly, however, as the State DOT is waiting to hear as to whether they need to purchase signals with lights on one side or both.
Exit 7
Franklin Street’s Exit 7 is the oldest and most fraught of the exits under consideration. It largely owes its current incarnation to Viennese architect and city planner Victor Gruen, credited with inventing the shopping mall, and then reshaping America’s cities around it. Considered visionary at the time, the Franklin Arterial project was deemed worthy of the evisceration of Armenian, Italian, Jewish, and Scandinavian communities along the corridor. Franklin Arterial was created as a high-speed route for cargo trucks in the wake of declining freight rail service, a function which former Portland Mayor and U.S. Congressman Tom Allen swears, even now, “saved Portland.” But the project undoubtedly flattened communities, cleaved apart the peninsula, and served as a highway for white flight, favoring suburban commuters over urban residents.
A federal highway official admitted that Exit 7 would never be built today, being so close to Exits 6 and 8. The cluster of traffic lights and merging lanes at Exit 7, too, is strikingly slapdash by modern standards. These factors surely contribute to the high rate of vehicle collisions on this stretch of I-295. Nevertheless, the plans for humanizing the roadway, long a dream of activists, sat moldering for lack of support from the previous City Manager of Portland.
Former City Manager Jon Jennings did not support the project and let it languish. But the project is revived today; the City Council approved a Phase 3 study which will look at land use as well as road design on and around Franklin Arterial. By extremely conservative estimates, development along the current corridor will yield $16 million in land sales, $3.5 million in annual taxes and 1,000 units of truly affordable housing. Should city and state officials follow the recommendations of local activists to further optimize the arterial, narrow the right of way, liberalize the zoning code, and encourage affordable development, these numbers would multiply. The City’s purchasing department is pursuing bids.
Exit 8
Traffic around the future location Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, being built on the former site of the old B&M factory, is one of the more contentious planning issues of the last several years. The site can be reached by just a single road, Sherwood Street, so neighbors of the project are organizing to delay and revise the University’s plans due to concerns about increased traffic. A fair observation, but the proposed solution – a new ramp dedicated to the site – might end up doing more harm than good. (As the history of highways in Portland shows, a not-uncommon outcome.)
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Over the last twenty years, each of these projects have been viewed as discrete, separated from one another. But this ignores the fact that the unifying thread of all four of them (and a whole lot more) just happens to I-295 which is the single largest built structure in the city of Portland (with the possible exception of I-95). It is time to stop addressing problems in the urban context piecemeal and to address them holistically as well as to start to envision a bolder, better future for the I-295 corridor and our city as a whole.
The author is one of the organizers of Portland Leviathan Forum on the Past, Present, & Future of Interstate 295, to be held on Thursday June 20th, 2024, 5:30-8:30 (reception to follow) at the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, 1342 Congress Street, Portland Maine, 04102.
Zack Barowitz – Zack Barowitz is a flâneur. He lives in Portland. ZackBarowitz.com