Bids sought for $2.5M Portland intersection revamp
Photo / Jim Neuger
The City of Portland is seeking to revamp a downtown intersection adjacent to Congress Square Park.
The city of Portland is seeking bids for the first phase of revamping a major downtown intersection expected to cost $2.5 million. The intersection of Congress, Free and High streets is adjacent to Congress Square Park and the Portland Museum of Art.
Phase one of the redesign will reconfigure the junction to improve traffic operations and safety, improve pedestrian accessibility, upgrade signal equipment, and provide streetscape improvements.
As a result of the reconfiguration, Free Street will intersect Congress Street about 80 feet east of High Street, forming a new intersection that is designed to provide safer pedestrian crossing and to slow vehicles down as they enter Free Street.
A large plaza area will be created in front of the Portland Museum of Art, which will be further improved as part of phase two.
Phase one of the project focuses primarily on the streets and sidewalks, to be followed by changes to Congress Square Park and other landscaping and streetscape elements.
The city’s Public Works Department expects the project to go to bid in May, begin construction in July and substantially conclude in November 2021.
The Maine Department of Transportation will fund $1 million of the initial $2.5 million cost, with the balance coming from the city's Capital Improvement Program and other city funding sources.
In an "On the Record" interview with Mainebiz last year, MDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note spoke of shifting the agency's investment focus to look at Main streets all over Maine.
Jessica Grondin, director of communications and digital services for the City of Portland, told Mainebiz via email on Tuesday that there was not yet an estimate for costs of the downtown project beyond the first phase. She said that could go into 2022 depending on how the work goes.
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I walk and drive through this intersection every day, it seems to work just fine. So many other places could use this money, stop wasting it.
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