I’ve thought many times how walking to or near the mall is not possible.
From: wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of John Brooking
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2019 12:08 AM
To: wsmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wsmac] Re: Today on Maine Mall Road, So. Portland.
Thanks for an excellent teachable moment, Dennis, though maybe not in the way
you’re thinking.
I biked down around that area after work to look over the situation. (My office
is by the South Portland Home Depot). It turns out that there is NO WAY for
pedestrians to cross that block in a marked crosswalk. They just don’t exist.
The nearest crosswalks of ANY kind are at the signalized intersections on
either end of that block. These are 1/4 mile to the south at Gorham/Running
Hill Roads, and 4/10 mile to the north at Western Avenue. (I measured it using
my bike GPS odometer app.) However, even those intersections do not provide a
crosswalk across Maine Mall Road! There are crosswalks provided across SOME
legs of each intersection, but not all, and not in a configuration that will
let pedestrians return on the other side of Maine Mall Road. Even if there
were, that would require them to walk at least 1/2 mile out of their way there
and back, which is totally unrealistic and unfair.
In short, this is a textbook example of a road design that prioritizes people
in cars over everyone else. It fails to provide even a crosswalk to accommodate
any possible movement. In their shoes, I would cross wherever I happened to be
too.
All that said, yes, safe crossing without the benefit of a crosswalk legally
requires yielding to cars. But I would expect there may be times when traffic
is just too heavy. In short, this stretch of road totally fails pedestrians, as
I would imagine we would find to be the case many places around the mall. Not
even a pedestrian island here, although there is one in places on Gorham Road,
which I sometimes use. This is the epitome of car-centric road design.
On Fri, Apr 19, 2019 at 4:34 PM Dennis Marrotte <dennis.marrotte1111@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dennis.marrotte1111@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
I was first in line, heading towards Western Avenue Intersection. To the Right
is Five Guys Burgers and 5 Below Store. To the Left is IHOP.
Just before the Signals for the mini mall on Right. No Crosswalk. They just
walked across all 4 Lanes !
Dennis
