I. Study Goals and Objectives
The Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Study Committee (PACTS) and the City of Portland have embarked on a Comprehensive Traffic Analysis of the Portland Peninsula: The Peninsula Traffic Study.
The objective of the study is to examine existing and proposed roadway infrastructure in light of current and projected employment and transportation centers and their traffic volumes. The analysis studies the current system and appropriate alternatives to how traffic is currently distributed across and within the Portland peninsula. The goals of the study are to restore neighborhood and open space integrity, while creating the best possible traffic pattern and system design. The study will meet the following objectives:
Data Collection and Analysis:
Given the build-out scenarios for the transportation and employment centers and their traffic forecasts, determine the transportation improvements which:
II. Background
Introduction
The City of Portland will soon embark on a number of substantial transportation projects that will have a significant impact on future traffic and development patterns throughout the City. This occasion serves as an important opportunity to take a step back and address Portland's capacity to provide functional, yet welcoming gateways to the City, while identifying existing and future activity centers and their potential traffic generation.
The Peninsula Traffic Study is evaluating the following activity centers and planned development in terms of their local and system-wide traffic impacts: Sewell Street Intermodal Station; Ocean Gateway and Eastern Waterfront Redevelopment; Bayside Redevelopment; I-295 Connector Road and interchanges. The study is in the process of identifying preferred routes to these centers, and assessing their potential traffic generation and associated impacts throughout the Portland peninsula.
History of Transportation Planning in Portland
Transportation Planning in the 1960's and 70's brought the "ring road" concept to Portland. Access was designed from several points around the peninsula: Congress; Forest; Franklin; and Washington. Arterials (Franklin, Spring Street) were then constructed to route traffic through the City. These arterials replaced smaller residential streets, and in the case of the Franklin Street, required the demolition of a neighborhood. One-way street pairs, such as State and High, Preble and Elm, (and potentially, Cumberland and Spring) were designed to move large volumes of through traffic across and off of the Portland peninsula.
While much was accomplished according to that plan, certain aspects were not completed. For example, the loss of urban fabric to create the Spring Street Arterial was so destructive that the project was halted before its full development, which saved a significant part of the Old Port district. The idea of Spring and Cumberland creating a ring road concept was therefore not fully realized.
These traffic conduits have created conflicts with their surrounding neighborhoods, and in the case of State Street, have bisected Deering Oaks Park. Inevitably, as traffic counts have grown with development outside of the City, so has the friction.
Planning in the 1990's
Major planning initiatives undertaken in the 1990's included the Downtown Plan, Transportation Plan, Industry and Commerce Plan, Deering Oaks Master Plan, Bayside Plan, Future Rail Station, and the Downtown Traffic and Streetscape Study. While each study identified the need to increase access and mobility to the Portland Peninsula, there is a consistent acknowledgment of the growing tension and conflict between the neighborhoods of Portland and the arterials that bisect them. Our most current planning projects, in fact, address the need to balance regional traffic within a neighborhood and open space context, such as the most recent Traffic Calming Policy and the Deering Oaks Master Plan of 1994.
Our priorities and sensibilities today have shifted, and the City intends to take a comprehensive new look at traffic patterns onto, through and around the peninsula to determine what improvements to the system should be undertaken over the next five to twenty years. Certainly recognizing the prospects for Bayside, downtown, and the waterfront described above, along with several infrastructure and park improvement plans, there is a need to consider the combined effects there from, and devise appropriate transportation management and infrastructure needs.
Specific issues and projects to be considered in this study include opportunities provided by the I-295 connector. The plans for phase one of the connector (recently completed) connect I-295 with Congress Street, Thompson's point and the Sewell Street Amtrak and intercity bus terminal. Phase two will connect from I-295 along the western shore of the peninsula to West Commercial Street. The impetus for this project is to serve the multi-modal rail and bus facility, to facilitate further development of the vacant land along the western edge of the peninsula, and to attempt to alleviate the massive traffic flows on Route 77 through Deering Oaks Park and the Parkside neighborhood.
Plans for Deering Oaks Park potentially include a rerouting of traffic that currently trisects the eastern end of this historic and important park. Previous to the PTS, traffic analysis had been done to generate several alternatives to the current road system through the park, but the analysis had been stymied by the need to look beyond the immediate study area to understand the implications and possibilities for changes to the peninsula roadway system as a whole. For example, State and High currently constitute a one-way pair funneling large volumes of traffic across the peninsula. Under today's priorities and in recognition of the impact of these roadways on neighborhood and park quality, would we consider significant changes to these roads? What are the implications for making these roads two-way, or reversing their directions, and would such changes facilitate the restoration of that portion of Deering Oaks now compromised by the present roadways and improve the life in the Parkside and other neighborhoods traversed by Route 77? To what extent could the I-295 connector absorb the traffic demand to cross the peninsula, and would it be a viable and useful alternate route for the thousands of drivers currently utilizing State and High? What other changes would motivate drivers to utilize the I-295 connector in lieu of Route 77? The peninsula-wide study will help us to answer these questions.
Another longstanding traffic dilemma concerns the Franklin/I-295 interchange. With a Bayside train station, redevelopment of the Union Branch rail property and other Bayside development in the pipeline, as well as the passenger terminal facility on the Waterfront, the already congested Franklin Street corridor and exchange system will be further stressed. When the I-295/Franklin Street ramp was recently studied by PACTS as part of a wider interstate exchange study, there was no solution that addressed the issues of traffic service and congestion adequately. The study ended with the recognition that this problematic location needed more intense further study. Constraints on the site, proximity to the Forest Ave ramps, and other factors made this location exceedingly difficult to resolve. The Peninsula Traffic Study provides the means to address congestion issues, serve future growth, and reconcile the highway ramp system with the goals of the Bayside Plan and Development District.
Lastly, train service will be provided in the next five to ten years in the Bayside neighborhood. The introduction of rail infrastructure at grade along the I-295 corridor will raise several issues as to traffic circulation and routing.
III. The Study
Future Opportunities
Portland is currently designing a number of substantial transportation projects that will have an impact on mobility throughout the City and the region. The Greater Portland Area infrastructure will expand and change drastically, and with those changes will come redevelopment and infill opportunities to strengthen our City and the region's service center economy.
Projects currently being planned and/or constructed include:
Given the range of transportation-related projects underway and the synergy between them, the City of Portland recognizes the need to assess the potential traffic generation associated with each project individually and as a total system. The City, therefore, is conducting a Peninsula Traffic Study to identify each "gateway" entrance to the City, identify the preferred routes to destinations within the Peninsula, the potential associated development build-out of each gateway and destination, the future traffic volumes, and an evaluation of the City's ability to address these needs. Future arterial capacity into/out of the peninsula is also being addressed. Upon its completion, the study will provide a series of short- and long-term recommendations for improvements to the transportation infrastructure to address future needs and increase and enhance mobility throughout the Portland peninsula.
IV. Project Participants
The Portland Peninsula Study is managed by the City of Portland and PACTS.
The study consultants, led by Gorrill-Palmer Engineers, are working closely with City staff, PACTS staff, and a Citizen Committee.
V. Public Participation
Given the scope of the project, public participation is important and challenging.
The Peninsula Traffic Study Committee consists of neighborhood association representatives, trail advocates, interested citizens, business representatives, a Portland’s Downtown District representative, a representative of the Friends of Deering Oaks, and City Councilors. The Committee provides oversight of the process and comment and input to the consultant team.
An expected product of the study will be an accessible and understandable public presentation component. Such a product will include neighborhood meetings and may also include a video presentation and call in show on a community access channel, an interactive web page providing information on the study, and a presentation brochure for distribution to the general public.
Prior to adoption, the recommendations of the consultant team will be presented to the broader community through workshops with the City Council and additional public forums.
VI. Work Products
Vehicular and pedestrian traffic inventory will include present and future traffic counts and forecasts, origin/destination data analysis, and accident information. Traffic forecasts will be made based on build-out scenarios for the Bayside, Waterfront, and Downtown, as well as street network changes.
Recommendations must also include aggressive implementation strategies for the shifting of circulation patterns and driver behavior throughout the Peninsula, without compromising safety and levels of service.
Phased recommendations, with approximate capital costs, will be made based on traffic inventory and build-out scenarios and will include proposed roadway alignments, roadway reconfiguration, wayfinding/directional signage, and signal timing recommendations.
The work products will be presented in:
a. Narrative form as a policy document that will be incorporated into the City's Comprehensive Plan;
b. A series of long- and short-term recommendations, listed by priority, with budget estimates; and
c. An appendix of graphic representations of specific recommendations, including roadway alignments, circulation plans, and other infrastructure improvements.