Belfast residents voiced concerns over safety and the direction of planned projects at a City Council listening session Tuesday night as officials presented proposals for several infrastructure and construction improvements on Congress Street.
The session brought together city councilors, Economic Development Director Thomas Kittredege and city engineer Mandy Holway of Olver Associates in Winterport to present several multi-part proposals to upgrade Belfast’s infrastructure. Attendees asked questions, raised safety and accessibility concerns, and offered alternative ideas.
Congress Street, and the adjacent area on Priscilla Lane and Salmond Street, has been a controversial area for residents regarding safety concerns and structural improvements and developments, including the finalization of the Congress Street Commons affordable housing project, which opened last December.
Wight Street, another traffic corridor near MaineHealth Waldo Hospital, recently underwent construction to add an 8-foot-wide multiuse pathway. City officials suggested that this project may be imitated for the proposed Congress Street project.
“At this point, we’re just looking for you all to make suggestions, because that was certainly a benefit to the Wight Street project,” City Manager Erin Herbig said.
Improvement proposals include 475 linear feet of new sewer line on Congress Street, 1,800 feet of in-ground storm drains with about a dozen catch basins, 1,500 feet of multiuse paths or sidewalks and bike lanes, and 2,500 feet of curbing with a new pedestrian crossing. On Salmond Street, the plan calls for replacing 175 feet of sewer line and ledge removal to allow for gravity-fed flow.
Several residents raised concerns about the scope and safety of the proposed upgrades, particularly around bike lanes, traffic flow and pedestrians.
Bradbury Street resident Steven Ray questioned whether the new features would be useful without stronger connections to other parts of the city.
“At this point, I don’t see the point of doing a bike lane even though I’m for bike lanes, because it doesn’t connect to a bike lane anywhere else,” Ray said.
The hope is to eventually link Congress Street upgrades with future accessibility projects across Belfast, city officials said, but the project would stop short of Priscilla Lane.
Michele Ratte, who lives a street over from Congress Street, cautioned against past mistakes in traffic management during construction, recalling that past projects diverted cars onto her street.
“It was absolutely the wrong thing to do, because our street can’t accommodate that kind of traffic,” she said.
Not all feedback was critical. Shannon Shimer, who lives at the corner of Congress and Priscilla Lane, welcomed the discussion and favored sidewalks and traffic-calming measures and was grateful to be at the point “where we’re actually talking about it.”
Shimer suggested the city commission a traffic study to guide final decisions.
“I would really hope that the city would be putting forth some sort of study to show what would best benefit rather than us spitballing what we think is right,” Shimer said.
Congress Street is known for speeding traffic and sometimes reckless driving, according to residents who live in the area and have discussed the issue at past City Council meetings.
The Congress Street section near Salmond Street sees about 1,070 to 1,080 average daily trips, similar to Wight Street, Planning and Codes Director Bub Fournier noted. Traffic numbers come from the Maine Department of Transportation.
But between Wight Street and Route 1, the volume rises to about 1,700 trips, indicating many drivers are diverted before Salmond. By comparison, traffic in front of Lincolnville Avenue by Hannaford reaches roughly 6,700 daily trips, Fournier said.
No final decisions have been made, and the $2 million in grant funding largely determines the project’s scope, though officials hope future improvements will eventually connect to other parts of town, Herbig said.
Another project, a federally funded intersection improvement initiative at Congress Street and Route 1, could offer benefits for the neighborhood in coordination with the current proposal.
Officials emphasized the ongoing input of residents in the project’s planning stage.
“It’s better to hear your concerns and ideas, and when we get to planning, [your ideas] will be taken into consideration,” Mayor Eric Sanders said.
