Mainely Planning

Portland Adopts Complete Streets Policy

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 10:01:06 -0500

The City of Portland has unanimously adopted a complete streets policy at their last City Council meeting on December 17th, 2012.

“By adopting a Complete Streets policy, the city has taken an important step to assure that each dollar spent on roadways and walkways is done so that all users will benefit now and into the future,” Mayor Michael Brennan said in the release.

For those unfamiliar with a Complete Streets Policy it provides for consideration of all transportation users regardless of mode choice. Implementation is however susceptible to interpretation, but is a step in the right direction!

Congestion is a good thing for cities!

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 12:54:09 -0500

“Congestion is a byproduct of success — it means a lot of people want to be there.”
- John Norquist, CEO of the Congress for New Urbanism

Population and Funding Misalignment in Maine?

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 10:02:33 -0500

Great article in the BDN the other day regarding some things I have already talked about here, regarding the Population and GDP of Maine, where those things are occurring and where the money is flowing. They hint that it isn’t flowing into the places where people are moving too, or where economic activity is occurring.

Is the State Giving Money to ‘Well-Off’ Suburbs at the Expense of Urban Areas?

The big take-away is the cities are back in a big way. Even lowly Waterville and Augusta are growing again, however state funding formulas for schools, roads and other investments aren’t flowing into these areas where services, jobs and people in need tend to be. This makes a huge case for increasing the value of our urban places through guided infrastructure investment and promoting projects that pay back big dividends to solidify the ground on which these places stand. Give the article a read.

Urban Growth Not Just Limited to the Lower 47

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 10:50:59 -0500

The census tells us quite a bit about where people are populating and when. What we see in the chart below is a significant (not tested for significance) change in course for population movements. The data examines the population of central cities of each metro area, compared to the surrounding metro area populations. Suburban growth patterns continued to dominate the percent of growth through 2007 (noted by the tall blue bars above the metro area), then abruptly fell for both in 2007-2009. What follows is primarily growth in the central cities (green bars in 2009-2011) with some moderate growth in the surrounding towns.

I continue to believe that when faced with economic uncertainty, due to high fuel prices, sputtering economy, etc., people will choose a more efficient lifestyle. Cities are an opportunity for that, helping to reduce commuter costs and put people closer to the things they want and need. Even in the face of higher housing costs in central cities, the combined cost of transportation and housing is still a better deal. In a flat economy with high fuel prices, that is a choice many are inclined to make.

Good News for Sustainable Transit in Maine - Portland North Gaining Momentum

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 11:08:00 -0500

I have talked about improved rail service as not only a tool to increase mobility, but to build a sustainable development future for the cities and towns where rail is feasible. This Portland Daily Sun article speaks positively about the prospects for studying the link between two of Maine’s three metropolitan areas. Here is the link and text below:

Resolution Aims to Document Support for Portland to L/A Commuter Service

Published Date Thursday, 20 December 2012 18:06 Written by Craig Lyons

A plan to explore commuter rail service for Portland, Lewiston and Auburn is on track to get support from the communities’ governing bodies.

The Portland City Council’s Transportation Sustainability and Energy Committee endorsed a resolution that will be sent to the councils in Portland, Lewiston and Auburn to document the support for a commuter transportation system running between the two metropolitan areas.

Portland Mayor Michael Brennan said there have been some conversations among the cities about a bus commuter service but the decision was made to talk more about a rail service. He said the resolution is straight-forward and will show a joint commitment by the three cities to study a commuter service.

Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte said studying a commuter link is an important piece of planning for economic and urban development. He said the service wouldn’t only accommodate existing commuters but could open the door for the under-employed population by linking the two job markets.

LaBonte said Auburn is committed to the creation of a commuter system and recently allocated $500,000 for a transportation hub along Route 4.

“We want to see this happen quickly,” he said.

The committee endorsed a joint resolution among Portland, Lewiston and Auburn that would support a feasibility study to look at a passenger rail service between the two metropolitan areas. The resolution was requested by the committee to start the process to look at the rail linkage between the communities after hearing a demand for that type of service.

By endorsing the resolution, the cities would seek state and federal grant funding to pay for the evaluation, according to a staff memo, and the study would include pieces on land use, economic development, environmental impacts, congestion mitigation and economic justice.

The study would explore additional topics that weren’t addressed by a two-year-old study done by Maine Department of Transportation.
The cities would jointly seek grant funding for the study from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System and the Androscoggin Transportation Resource Center.

Gary Higginbottom, of the Maine Rail Transit Coalition, said the study should look beyond the three cities but incorporate stops in the economic centers along the route. He said places like Falmouth, Yarmouth and New Gloucester could all benefit from a rail connection to the cities.

LaBonte said he’s interested in the commuter service having a long life and that’s likely going to require some sort of public subsidy. He said having a population density is key to building support for a contribution from the taxpayers.

Trying to serve more areas that might not have the population density could cause a public subsidy to lose its appeal, LaBonte said.

There was mention of commuter bus service, which does increase mobility, but will not inspire good urban development that is sustainable. Nobody ever built TOD around the bus station!

"You can’t rely on bringing people downtown, you have to put them there."

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:54:00 -0400

““You can’t rely on bringing people downtown, you have to put them there.””

- Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

A Mainer Gets It Right Regarding the Power of Land Value Taxation

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:43:00 -0400

A friend had a letter published in the Portland Press Herald recently, talking about land value taxation. Link and text below:

Land value taxation could bring a surge of new construction

By Bill Basford of Benton

A news article in a recent Portland Press Herald reported on a dramatic 23 percent decline in car ownership – 26 percent per capita! – in the city of Portland over the past seven years.

This great news was followed by a Press Herald editorial on July 30 urging the city to encourage this trend by relaxing minimum parking requirements, providing better walking and cycling access from off peninsula, and maybe even restoring streetcar service.

Another policy change that the city should consider is a change to land value taxation, or LVT.

LVT is a property tax system that dramatically reduces tax rates on buildings and increases land taxes to make up the difference, while keeping total property taxes the same as before.

A dozen or more cities in Pennsylvania have already changed to this system, or are actively working on this change.

Reducing taxes on buildings encourages developers to put up new buildings, including rental apartments and condos, by reducing the long-term costs of owning and operating a building.

At the same time, a higher tax on land discourages speculators from holding empty lots for years or even decades, while waiting for the value to rise enough to make a killing on the land, without ever building anything on it.

The value of vacant land is greatly affected by what is built on other nearby lots.

Land speculators are, in effect, gambling on if and when new buildings go up on nearby lots. By raising the “holding costs” for empty lots, the city can pressure land speculators to either develop their own vacant lots, to bring in enough revenue to cover the higher holding costs, or sell the land to someone else who can and will develop the empty lots.

Under Portland’s current property tax system, even ordinary surface parking lots can bring in enough revenue to cover the low taxes on otherwise vacant land, allowing speculators to leave it undeveloped for many years.

Several city blocks of surface parking just south and east of the Cumberland County Civic Center show the undesirable effects of Portland’s current low land taxes.

But Portland simply can’t afford to have so much of its limited downtown land area tied up in such unproductive uses.

LVT can be introduced gradually, allowing owners of underutilized land time to adjust their plans without suffering sudden unexpected losses.

For example, Altoona, Pa., recently completed a 10-year transition to LVT, from 2002 to 2011, resulting in a significant increase in both the number and value of building permits.

In comparison, Johnstown, Pa., a similar-size city about 40 miles west of Altoona, has not made the change to LVT and is still enduring a decades-long decline in building permits.

Harrisburg, Pa., the state capitol, with a population slightly less than Portland, changed to a graded tax system, taxing land at six times the mil rate of buildings and other improvements.

It has seen a big increase in new construction, despite other financial blunders that may bankrupt the city government.

While the benefits of LVT or a graded tax system will be most evident in the downtown business area, homeowners have little to fear.

Most homeowners will see a small reduction in total property taxes, with the only likely increases being for smaller than average houses on unusually large lots.

Maine state law now requires municipalities to tax all property at the same mil rate.

But this law was probably intended to prevent blatant tax discrimination, such as taxing out-of-town property owners at higher rates than residents, or taxing rental apartment buildings at higher rates than owner-occupied condominiums.

It should easy enough to convince the Legislature to pass enabling legislation for LVT, as long as all land is taxed at the same mil rate citywide, and all buildings are taxed at the same mil rate citywide.

Furthermore, this change can be made at low cost to the city, without requiring an expensive revaluation, since the property tax database already includes separate valuations for land and buildings.

In summary, a change to Land Value Taxation could bring a surge of new construction to downtown Portland, ease the very tight rental housing market, and draw in still more creative people ready to live without money-sucking cars.

"Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf."

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:58:57 -0400

“Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf.”

- Lewis Mumford

Maine: Who's Your Money Maker?

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 03:52:00 -0400

When considering where to make investments, I always think of where the return is going be made.

Looks like Maine’s 3 metros are increasing their share of the state’s GDP.

What is most striking is that the rest of Maine is in decline compared to the 3 metro areas, with Portlandia leading the pack. Bangor and L/A are slowly recovering from the downturn and growing as well. Urbanists rejoice!

This data was sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

How Much are Slip Lanes Costing Your City?

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 10:01:00 -0400

Let me not mince words….slip lanes are the bane of a pedestrian friendly downtown business district, but they may have a larger impact than that on your cities finances.

From a planning perspective, they facilitate fast travel and are suitable for highway on-ramps, rural highways, and places where there isn’t a chance in hell someone is walking or downtown businesses are trying to thrive. I also like to think of things in terms of value and how things build a cities tax base and that is where I intend to head with this post, not the traffic calming rant I seem to have started on.

To illustrate the point I will be making, I am picking on a particular intersection that has four right turn slip lanes, going in each direction and facilitating an effortless cornering maneuver for motorists. As I implied earlier, these are great for places where no one in their right mind would walk, but what are the costs when it is located in what should be a thriving downtown business district?

The marked areas in the map below represents almost 3/4 of an acre of land consumed by the transportation “investment”, and is at the south end of a somewhat thriving downtown (getting better by the day I might add). The block south of downtown sits a old mill that is witnessing a resurgence and has been the recipient of significant private investment dollars, yet when navigating this intersection, it may as well be a mile away. Not only is the street network designed for Interstate traffic (5 lanes including turn lanes), but the slip lanes lead you right into the heart of downtown at breakneck speed.

Not that everyone drives this fast when approaching the downtown business district, but the transportation network certainly doesn’t prevent it. In other words, it happens frequent enough for me to notice.

In terms of our point about the lost value to the city, these slip lanes represent what could be development opportunities for ‘thee’ prime location in the City. Not only is it close to the neighboring town across the river, but given the right changes in zoning code, these properties could allow for significant investment, never mind the fact that developing these properties is probably illegal according to the towns (and every other towns) current zoning code.

If I were a good (even remotely decent) graphic designer, I would crank out a sketch-up of these properties as they would look if developed with downtown buildings, with no setback from the street’s ROW (right of way). Not only would this add tax paying properties to the City, but would serve as a continuation of the downtown corridor linking the investment in the mill just south of downtown. As one approaches the City coming in from across the river, one would know they were arriving somewhere worthy, a place to arrive to, instead of a place to drive through.

Some might argue that the properties are too small for significant investment, but if we look at the property just north of the 0.19 acre property, it is actually only .145 acres and on it sits a very nice building that sadly is suffering from lack of investment. By combining the property that is 0.33 acres with the property (large parking lot along the river with 1.165 acres) to the northeast, you end up with a property large enough to build a great building site and provide some adequate parking. The same is the case with the parcels on the south end of the intersection.

I began this post thinking about tax revenue for the city and how to increase value. So lets play with some numbers… Pretend each corner attracted an average investment of $1M. At our current tax rate, that would represent an additional $96,000/year in tax revenue if my calculations are remotely correct. Considering that the infrastructure (street, water, sewer) is already in place in this area of town, this investment would be gravy for the city. They could either make other strategic investments in attracting business, or over time, reduce the tax burden on each property owner after the changes in the transportation system that led to this are reimbursed.

I keep looking at the places I happen by and see opportunities from strengthening communities everywhere. I won’t talk about why there is a 5 lane bridge between the two towns at this time, or the one-way streets that also facilitate fast traffic, but that too should be considered in a holistic fashion along with this. Perhaps the towns comprehensive plan will address these issues or a more narrowly focused downtown master plan could offer some direction? At this point it isn’t my place to bring these up, but hope that someone with more clout than myself, might run with it? These are all complicated issues and can’t be looked at in isolation, but it is good to start somewhere.

Maps That Tell a Story: Crash Data Analysis Leads to Analysis of Priorities

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:49:36 -0400

For my planning activism with the Greater Waterville Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, I have been looking into a lot of crash data, trying to learn about the nature of accidents in and around Waterville and how they could be mitigated.

I happened upon a story that I didn’t expect to find, but did. Waterville is looking into fixing a 5 way intersection at the corner of Western Ave., Lincoln Ave., and 1st Rangeway. The intersection can be a bit difficult to navigate, but in looking at the crash data for the Waterville area, it appears that the intersection is quite safe compared to other parts of town (Interstate Interchanges & Downtown).

While the perception is that the intersection is unsafe, what generally tends to happen is that people navigating that intersection approach it with some level of hesitation and a heightened awareness. Because everyone knows it is a “bad” intersection, it is made safe because people treat it as if it were a place to be respected. In the list of projects for the City of Waterville and Maine’s DOT is a redo of this “unsafe” intersection. While the improvements may in fact change the perception of the intersection as an “unsafe” place, the data suggests that this is a gross miss-allocation of resources.

Waterville has a downtown business environment that is fighting like hell to remain a viable center of business activity. People take economic risks here by opening up businesses, the downtown development group spends considerable energy building up the downtown, but what is clear to me is that the street network that supports downtown isn’t doing an adequate job.

By the numbers, a two block section of downtown has had 84 accidents in the last 8 years. Most of those are rear-end/sideswipes between people backing out of diagonal stall parking were rear-ended or parallel parkers were sideswiped. As a planner, I know the value of downtown on-street parking to downtown businesses. People need to get in, conduct a transaction, and leave. Eliminating on-street parking is a looser for these businesses and will make traffic even faster due to greater roadway widths. Stories here and here.

What is needed however is a traffic calmed environment that will be a more inviting place for patrons of downtown businesses, families spending a weekend strolling along the shop lined streets, and as a result will slow traffic down, leading to less crashes.

Ridership and Subsidy, Lessons from the Downeaster

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:25:27 -0400

The Amtrak Downeaster is a vital component to Maine’s Transportation System. There have been year over year increases in ridership since its inception. As the Downeaster nears completion of track work to Brunswick, ME a vital connection to car-free travel opportunities will only be enhanced, with passengers being able to connect to the Maine Eastern Railway in Brunswick, with seasonal excursion service to Rockland, ME.

As a former computer network geek, it is shown that the value of a computer network increases with the number of connections that can be made. The simple office networks of the early 1990’s allowed limited transactions between other office computers. Fast forward to now, computers can connect to data and information across the globe. No longer are businesses, students, and researchers limited to local resources. Transportation networks operate in the same way. As the network ads more resources, it becomes more valuable and useful. I am sure that there is an upper limit to connectivity for both types of networks, where diminishing returns begins to outweigh expansion. Our inefficient and fiscally unsustainable automobile network is a prime example.

This leads me to the purpose of our discussion. The graph below is a summary of Downeaster ridership between 2002 and 2011, showing an increase in ridership year over year, with a couple blips. As are all transportation networks across the world, there is always a degree of subsidy involved and the Downeaster is no exception. The State of Maine and the Federal Government kick in approximately $7.5M/year in operating subsidy. When we divide the ridership by this cost figure, we see that the subsidy per trip is actually going down considerably from a 2004 high of over $30/trip to a present day subsidy of less than $15/trip.

It will be interesting to see what happens after Brunswick becomes the new Northern Terminus of the Downeaster and connections between the Maine Eastern Railway are established. I would expect to see ridership on both lines go up considerably as the network becomes more functional to people seeking opportunities for car-free travel to experience all that Maine has to offer.

It was predicted that Maine and New Hampshire’s Concord Trailways would experience a hit to their ridership due to the Downeaster. They provide bus service between Boston’s South Station and Logan Airport with points north in both New Hampshire and Maine. In some ways, they offer a competing service with the Downeaster between Portland and Boston, but ridership figures show that in 2003 they had 216,000 riders and that ridership grew to over 400,000 in 2006. More recent figures are unavailable, but anecdotal evidence suggests that ridership continues to surge on the route.

While there may be other factors involved, I believe that what has happened is the transportation network increased its size and utility, and has added value to the system as a whole. People from Bangor can now reach Portland, and either continue to Boston on comfortable coach, or switch to an equally valuable service to meet their transportation needs.

People are clamoring for more options beyond the automobile. Gas in Maine hovers around $3.65 as of this writing, and we have vast distances to travel between our urban areas, both large and small. Increasing the size of the car-free network will only help keep Maine connected to the rest of the Northeast region and the important economic opportunity it represents.

Porland, Maine's Fore River Trail & Why it is Not For Everyone

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:03:00 -0400

I had some time to kill before catching a bus back north while in Portland, ME. I decided to head out and explore the Fore River Trail, finding a gem of a place, exploring Thompson’s Point, and a place with a historic linkage to its industrial/commercial past. While the land use of long ago is no longer reflected in the activities that are going on there, relics from the past reminded me that not too long ago, this property represented a significant amount of economic activity. Now it looks like people park trucks there and perhaps warehouse some items in the dilapidated buildings peppered about the peninsula.

When you approach the trail, you can head off in a couple directions. Heading westish, leads you parallel to the rail tracks of what I believe is the Mountain Division Rail line. This is also parallel to the Fore River and the Fore River Santuary. Heading south, takes you around Thompson’s Point where you get more of a taste of the industrial/commercial side I was describing in the above paragraph.

When I went west on the trail adjacent to the rail line, the corridor is a actually owned by the electric utility. I encourage the building of trails on utility easements because they are essentially an underused resource. Yes, the electricity (magnetic radiation and the electricity actually) in large amounts is bad for you, I hear. Don’t build your house under the lines is how it should be stated.

While walking along the trail, I happened upon a number of people, but only one of which was enjoying the trail for its stated purpose. The remainder, had staked out little camps and were either sleeping, smoking, drinking, or some combination of the those. All activities that can be freely enjoyed, but it led me to think about the trail, the users of the space, and how I would feel if I were a young woman, or an elderly couple. I happen to be a large imposing fella and probably view situations quite differently than some others do, but I would be hesitant to recommend the trail to a woman looking for a safe place to run. I am not an expert on homelessness, but know enough to know that they aren’t bad people, however there is something disconcerting about running into a handful who are engaged in various stages of intoxication.

Personally however, I appreciate the juxtaposition of the natural world and our industrial past. Seeing nature retake what was taken from it has always been one of my little pleasures. As much damage as we can inflict, our time here is temporary and overgrowing weeds around a former industrial site reminds me of my temporary status. Speaking of temporary, there was a makeshift memorial for someone who I do not know or ever will know. I wonder about his life and who he had an impact on. Somebody found him important enough to construct this tribute.

Rest in peace….Mike Coppersmith.

Sidewalks to Nowhere?

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 17:57:00 -0400

Misplaced investments abound anywhere you look. Investments whether public or private need to have a purpose and provide some sort of return. The place that I talking about today is in Portland, ME and is located just 1/2 a block north of the Amtrak/Concord Coach Station. The sidewalk is a private investment that facilitates travel between the parking lot of the Clarion Hotel and the hotel itself. Below is a handy Google Map of the site.

View Larger Map

What we see is a sidewalk that runs horizontally through the parking lot and abruptly stops nearly 5-6 feet from the public sidewalk leading to the train/bus station. Here are a photo looking out from the private sidewalk to the public sidewalk.

Notice that the fence isn’t there for security, but it does block passage through the majority of the parking area to the train station. I wonder if they thought a partial fence would be enough to keep hoodlums and vandals at bay, believing them to only put forth the effort if the fence prevented them from accessing 1/2 the parking area?

I am not sure why I am writing about this. People could in fact just walk around and through the roadway and enter the lot the way cars do. They could trample through the bushes or the hotel could have saved a couple hundred bucks in fence and spent it on completing the sidewalk. Now they have a fence that really doesn’t do anything, and an incomplete sidewalk that doesn’t facilitate travel to the train and bus station from their establishment.

I am not even sure I would have picked this up as a planner reviewing the site plan. It just seems that creating connections in logical places only improves a transportation system.

* It is noted that the private hotel owned sidewalk was built before the public sidewalk, which is the “only” way to get to the train station if one is on foot, unless you trespass on private property or walk in the roadway. Regardless, the investment should have been made by the city to link the two amenities up. The cost would have been negligible considering the entire cost of the project and reflects a serious lack of concern for how functional networks operate. It could be argued that the hotel wouldn’t want the sidewalk to be linked, which may be the case and that is their prerogative, but if an effort wasn’t made……

Thanks for defending the broader concept of Rails w Trails. Why do you not sign your name to the articles?

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:42:15 -0400

Your welcome! I believe where possible, rails and trails are important pieces of infrastructure if done correctly. They may require a fence or some additional ROW, but they double the mobility options along a corridor.

I was thinking about your question before you actually asked and one of the things I was always concerned about was finding a job. Planning can be contentious and this is an avenue for me to share ideas, think outside the box, and suggest things that make sense, yet are politically unpalatable. I don’t worry as much about it since I have found employment, but I still have aspirations of bringing things into the fold that might draw criticism. My name is Scott Workman and I approve this message.

You have a great blog and I really enjoy reading your posts. What is your idea of public life? Thanks Publicworksandpublicspacee.

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:37:47 -0400

Thanks! I wish that I had more time to dedicate to writing about the things I see and wonder about. I definitely believe in civic/community engagement and that takes up a good chunk of my time outside of my professional role in planning. I think about public space quite a bit and one of the things I am working on personally is gardening as traffic calming/placemaking and I am starting at home by creating gateways into the neighborhood that are decoratively landscaped. The grass around sign posts is being turned into perennial flower beds to soften the lines between mono-culture grass and the sharp steel sign posts and telephone poles. I know it is a little thing, but I think details are important. Besides, who doesn’t like flowers?

Value Per Acre

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:51:40 -0400

Cities levy taxes to pay for things people need. Some of those things are schools, parks, streets, police & fire protection. Understandably, nobody really likes taxes, so cities try their best to keep taxes low. In a town like Waterville, in what is considered a service center town, taxes can be a bit higher. This is largely due to having more hospitals, churches, non-profit organizations, judicial buildings, schools and colleges, than many of the surrounding communities. These places don’t pay property taxes and that is ok, because they bring people to the community for those services and the jobs they represent.

It can be argued then that service center towns will have a much more difficult time attracting residents who use tax rates as a measure of attractiveness to settle in a particular town. One solution to that problem is to focus on adding more value per acre of taxable property, thereby reducing the property tax rate and the burden on a towns citizens.

While increasing the density of value may be a difficult political sell in some respects, it represents a solution to a vexing problem of overtaxing a tax-weary citizenry. The map below is a simple parcel map of Waterville, ME that shows the value of each parcel in terms of its area (value/acre). The most valuable parcels of the town are primarily the downtown (red parcels), which also happens to be the most dense part of town.

Considering that infrastructure and other city services become less expensive as density increases (less roadway to pave, less patrolling needed, etc.), it begs the question of why we create zoning codes that promote low density development? If residential housing is restricted to 4 homes/acre (.25 acre lots) and the street that those houses reside on costs the same as a street that is zoned for 6 houses/acre (.17 acre lots), which street has a better chance of being supported by the tax revenue of the properties on the street?

When we look at downtown, you note that most parcels are either red or dark orange, representing value/acre at over $1M or $750K respectively. These represent breadwinners for the cities coffers and probably subsidize much of the low density areas infrastructure costs. Not that downtown development is right for every part of town, but any chance a city has to increase density will increase value on a per acre basis.

As a planner, I feel it is my responsibility to find solutions to how cities develop that cater to people of the broadest possible political persuasions. Reducing tax rates while maintaining a high level of city services appeals to a broad coalition. Reducing our ecological footprint by taking up less space is also appealing to many.

Bike Networks in Small Towns - Meaningful Destinations

Wed, 30 May 2012 10:32:08 -0400

One of the most important things about bike and pedestrian infrastructure is that it needs to go somewhere. As important as recreation may be, taking cycling and walking to the next level by fostering active mobility for real travel to meaningful destinations is key to building a healthy and sustainable community. Waterville is ripe for just such a network because everything in Waterville is remarkably close by. The map below is a topo map that show just how close people are to downtown Waterville. Within 2 miles of downtown are a number of major work centers, Inland Hospital, MaineGeneral’s 2 campus’, Downtown Waterville, plus Colby and Thomas College Campus locations. Just outside of that is the Hutamaki paper plant straddling the Waterville/Fairfield town line.

Below is a thematic map of work centers in Waterville, that shows where the jobs are located in town. What I wanted to show was the different places people in town work and how close those areas are. In Waterville, nearly 20% of people work in town or in neighboring Winslow across the river. The map was created with a census product called: On the Map, and can display commute data in a number of ways. For this map, I just focused on where jobs were located.

While I didn’t want to focus on towns outside of Waterville for the purpose of a bike boulevard network, it is important to consider the connections to neighboring towns when working on a network design. This map has only two connections, one to Winslow across the Two Cent Bridge, and to Fairfield via Dummond Ave. heading north.

As we get closer to working on bike routes through Waterville in the public participation process, it will be important to have an accurate understanding of where people want to go. The above map is merely my perspective on some meaningful routes and might not capture all the desired destinations. What these routes do however, is focus on streets that are bike-able and some destinations that I would want to have available if I chose to bike to them.

Missed Opportunity For Trails In Portland, Maine

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:02:31 -0400

Portland, ME has been making huge strides to improve bicycle and pedestrian connectivity throughout the city. Here is an abandon rail line that has been converted to a paved multi-use pathway (MUP). It runs from Elm Street behind the Eastern Mountain Sports/Trader Joe’s Store to the east end of the peninsula where it meets with other trails. The photo below was taken from the vantage point of Elm Street looking northeast.

Just to the left of the trail is the commercial area with TJs and EMS, but as you can see, there is no connection between the trail and the commercial area. You must go around the block.

Here is another view that displays the abandoned rail with some existing track infrastructure.

In talking to the manager of one of the stores in the plaza, I asked them about the missed opportunity. They indicated that the owner of the plaza property was angry at the city about the trail and felt that it was a taking that negatively affected him. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I am fairly certain that the abandoned rail right of way of the rail line is not the plaza owners property. He constructed the fence as a reaction to deny access from his property to the trail.

This is all hearsay of course and am not going to speculate on what really happened. Regardless it really represents a missed opportunity for increasing connections and promoting bicycling and walking as a mode of transportation to two places that seem to attract people interested in using those modes. Below is another picture of the route one must take around the block to access the plaza.

Levels of Investment & Institutional Priorities

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:22:00 -0400

In my daily rounds today I happened upon two picture perfect moments that describe some of my thoughts on institutional priorities at USM. The image immediately below is a bicycle “parked” next to a streetlight, which is used to secure the bike. I looked around the facility and didn’t see any appropriate facilities for bicycle parking. The next building over has a rack, that is often full, however Abromson Hall doesn’t seem to offer any facilities. However, if you look in the background, there is a large multi-million dollar parking garage to accommodate the automobile.

The next picture is worth a few more words. This building didn’t have any adequate facilities that I could see. The cyclist had few options and out of necessity parked his/her bike on the ramp. The background of the photo showcase’s USM’s commitment to the automobile and its temporary daily storage.

In light of USM’s efforts to become climate neutral by 2040, it appears they have made little headway in how to get there. It even appears that they have created a situation where being a cyclist and seeking secure bike parking, means becoming a scofflaw.

First action steps for USM if it really intends on seriously becoming climate neutral:

put in bike racks at every building entrance
put in high quality bike racks that aren’t wheel taco makers
give free coffee coupons to cyclists in recognition that they are making a difference and staying healthy at the same time
put in covered bike parking

These are just a couple easy steps that might promote sustainable mobility. There are more things that can be done, but start here now!