My transect walk took me on a sort of figure-eight route through Portland, using Congress street as the central “scaffolding” route and branching out in broad loops in opposing directions at its intersection with State Street. The focus of my walk was on the streets themselves. I then divided my focus in to a few groups: overall condition of the roads, width of street, existence of sidewalks plus quality and condition, and free street parking. **NOTE** I did not distinguish between no parking and paid parking (i.e. spots with parking meters), so as to draw attention to the distinct lack of free parking.

My walk started with a straight shot from one end of Congress street to the other, starting in Munjoy Hill past the cemetery and ending in the West End before Maine Medical Center. What I noticed along this stretch was an interesting dichotomy. At the center of my walk was Portland’s City hall. At this point, the street was at its widest—four lanes, two in each direction—with sidewalks paved in brick and/or large concrete slabs. There were no free parking spots, despite the numerous empty lots advertising parking (for a fee), but other than that the quality of the streets were in superb condition.

Outward from here, in either direction, these street roles began to reverse. Street conditions alone began to deteriorate, especially at the furthest points from the center along my walk. At my turn-off onto Park Street, there was even a pot hole large and deep enough to expose the original cobblestone pavement that was otherwise covered in asphalt. The width of the street became constricted, allowing only one lane for each lane of traffic. The sidewalks also constricted in overall width, and as the red-brick inlay was replaced by solid-black asphalt a few blocks in either direction from City Hall, the condition of the sidewalks worsened as well.

At the same point of transition (Franklin Street to the north, State Street to the south) came an influx of free parking spots along the street. On Munjoy Hill, free parking was available on either side of the street, with little to no time restriction. However, despite a marked improvement over no parking whatsoever, the spaces were still limited considering the number of potential users, i.e. people living in street side apartments, restauranteurs, etc.

Upon turning onto Weymouth Street, the street conditions along Congress Street have reached the furthest negative extent of the aforementioned street condition dichotomy. At either end of Weymouth Street are Maine Medical Center and the Exposition Center (aka Seadog Stadium). As a result of these landmarks, the streets beyond these points see an improvement in width and condition(with little improvement in free parking or sidewalks). Moving north once again along Park Avenue, these conditions are maintained through the turn-off onto State Street. At this point, the conditions once again change—this time unexpectedly. The street sidewalks improve in width and condition, showing the return of brick-inlay pavement, and free parking shows up on one or both sides of the street. Turning onto Spring Street introduced the return of wide, multi-lane streets (although traversing it is made difficult by a high median running along the area with the highest pedestrian and vehicular traffic) and the disappearance of free parking. As Spring Street enters the Old Port, the streets narrow once again (just after the Union Street intersection) at which point Spring Street becomes Middle Street. The trend of narrowed streets, minimal free parking, and brick sidewalks continues until India Street. At this point, I turned upwards and returned to my starting point on Congress Street.

As a side note, I also took note of the existence of bike racks along the street—which was easily done, because the only one I saw was at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Spring Street. There were many bikes locked along the side of the street, but these were often locked to trees or nearby stoop fences (especially along State Street).

Transect Walk

Munjoy Hill Area

October 19, 2014

Started at Eastern Promenade and Congress Street. Walked up Congress Street.

Almost every block along Congress Street had at least three bicycles outside houses or on the street. The bicycles locked on the sidewalk were usually locked to sign posts or trees. There were almost no bike racks and the bike racks that existed had room for at most two bikes. There were no bus stations along this section of Congress Street despite it being both a residential and commercial area (there were a lot of cafes). Though there were bus stops along Congress, no buses were seen.

Right on Washington Avenue.

Despite having many restaurants with good food and a surprisingly diverse food selection, the actual street looked dilapidated, largely due to the run down roads and unkempt sidewalks. There were no bike lanes and the shoulders were not particularly accessible because of the parked cars. The roads were not in good condition.

Right on Walnut Street.

The street is much more residential than Washington Ave., but the roads were still rather run down. There were still plenty of bikes outside houses but no bike lanes.

Left on Eastern Promenade.

There is some sort of bicycle road race for adults and another course for children. It looks like the race is almost over. It was pretty crowded and there were a few food trucks. Further down the Eastern Promenade is deserted probably because the road is closed for the race. There is a school which we stopped by to find some mental maps. A few families with small children and someone walking their dog. The school playground was relatively deserted.

Left on North Street.

We walked by a bus stop with seating and a rain cover. There was a large map and schedule for bus routes. However, there was a paper flyer stating that the stop was closed. The stop was by a church and a school and a few blocks from a residential area. There were a lot of cars parked at the intersection of North and Eastern Promenade and there seemed to be a lot of people in the church. There was a family packing/unpacking family bikes into a car.

Left on Melbourne Street.

Melbourne Street took us back into a residential neighborhood. Again, I did not notice the bus stops and there were no bike lanes but still a few bikes outside. The roads were a little nicer than those along Washington Avenue.

Right on Merrill Street.

Still a rather residential area. I did not see any bus stops or buses along the road.

Right on Congress Street.

Went to Hilltop Cafe. The few blocks had to the cafe had already been walked.

The transect walk confirmed what was said about the public transportation system in Portland. There were few bike lanes or bike racks despite every block having a number of bikes locked outside houses or to street signs. The easier suggestion would be to increase the number of bike racks to make the city more aesthetically pleasant and to encourage biking around the city. Since biking on the sidewalk is usually dangerous for pedestrians and bikers, it would be nice if there were more bike lanes or at least larger shoulders for the streets. The only bike lane I noted was along parts of Congress Street. However, the city does seem to be encouraging bikers as the day I visited Portland part of the Eastern Promenade had been closed for road races for adults and children. There are also nice trails along the water by the Eastern Promenade.

The more accessible and perhaps useful alternative form of transportation is the bus system that, based on my transect walk, is severely lacking. I saw very few active busses and could only find one schedule of routes and stops. The schedule attached to the bus stop did not have hours for Sunday. Instead there was a note at the bottom that stated, “Limited holiday, weekend, evening and Sunday Service,” suggesting the unreliability and inaccessibility of the transportation system. There was then a paper note stating that the bus stop was not running that day although that might have been for the aforementioned road race. Though the map showed that a few bus lines went into neighboring areas such as Westbrook and Falmouth, there were hardly any actual bus stops on these routes making the bus system seem largely ineffective. Though it would be a large investment to increase the number of routes, stops, and hours, three out of my four mental map people mentioned that the public transportation system was lacking, and one emphasized especially for senior citizens.

The walk on Congress Street from Hilltop Café to the cemetery on Mountfort Street is a nice street to walk down. I noticed the very few sitting areas on that short walk. There is definitely a lack of benches along the street. The few seats that exist are owned by private firms meant to seat their customers. For example, Donatelli’s Tailor Shop has a couple of seats outside of their shop. I must say that even though I knew the seating was private it did not feel hostile to seat without being a customer. It felt welcoming using their seats, but I believe that the main reason for this is that they are local shops owned by local residents. There were two benches in front of a Portland Fire Department office, which is public.

Another important quality I saw were the wide sidewalks that are not typical for Portland. These sidewalks are wide due to the traffic of Congress St. There is a considerable amount of foot traffic, but definitely not as much traffic as there is in the Art District/Old Port. I saw many people with grocery bags, so I guess a good amount of people choose to walk to their local store. I also thought I would see more bikes. It was also a chilly day, maybe that affected the number of people outside. I also thought about the amount of snow that falls every year in Portland, and wondered why not on top of adding energy-creating sidewalks add a top layer that is heated to melt the snow on public walk spaces. This way it would create a greater incentive for people to walk outside and use the pathways at the same time create energy. There also needs to be a better access for bicycles. I asked an individual that seem to be a bike-owner on the importance of cycling in Portland, and she told me (she also drew a mental map for me) that Portland is mall enough to have an efficient bike system where people could get from one end to the other in 20 minutes max. She brings up a good point, because it is highly inefficient to have cars in Portland. It is not easy to park, so why does the city not create a bigger incentive to bike?

On my way to the cemetery, I passed on a developing housing project called 118 on Munjoy Hill, and I actually met the developers this summer, but I did not get a chance to see the building until today. (I can not paste pictures from the 118 project website for some unknown reason, but here is the link http://118onmunjoyhill.com/residences/views-2/) These new condos being build are not cheap; in fact, it is more of a luxury home. The condos have a bunch of really cool features and perks. It is kind of the bridge between condos and smart condos. I asked another person about the housing in Portland (she did not have time to draw a mental map), but she said, “Portland needs more affordable housing, not more low-income housing.” Which is something we have not really discussed yet. There seems to be some low-income housing options, but what about the people who are trying to buy a nice home? Is there a big gap between cool, new, expensive housing like 118 on Munjoy Hill and low-income housing? It seemed that there was according to this person.