Expert leads L-A workshops, walks to see what would help pedestrians, bicyclists.
LEWISTON – Transportation expert Bob Chauncey didn’t like what he saw along Russell Street, but he wasn’t surprised.
Cars whizzed past a painted crosswalk connecting the Bates College campus to North Bardwell Street. As he led his tour group across the busy street and onto a narrow sidewalk, he quipped, “I hope everyone has insurance.”
It was quite a contrast to the scene minutes before, just 200 feet south in the middle of the Bates College campus. Wide walking paths and no side traffic offered an idyllic place for pedestrians and bike riders.
“We know what makes a community walkable, but we don’t always do it,” Chauncey said. “We know how to build cities for cars, too. And we’re very good at that.”
Chauncey, director of policy analysis for the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, is in the Twin Cities this week helping local people pick out what they like and dislike about area sidewalks and trails. It’s part of a national series of seminars offered by Chauncey and Mark Plotz, program manager for the national group.
Narrowing streets helps
Chauncey hopes to inspire the people who attend his seminars to make their hometowns more walkable. In Lewiston, he suggested making streets narrower around the city, forcing drivers to slow down. Four-lane roads with narrow sidewalks can be reduced to three lanes with wide bike paths. That’s what the city is doing on outer Lisbon Street already, and Chauncey suggested it for Russell Street.
The seminars kicked off Monday morning in the Lewiston Multi-Purpose Center and continued that afternoon in the Lewiston Public Library. Tuesday’s morning session centered on the Bates campus. Tuesday afternoon’s session was scheduled at Central Maine Medical Center.
The sessions move over to Auburn today and Thursday. Morning sessions run from 8 a.m. to noon. Afternoon sessions run from 1 to 5 p.m.
Sessions this morning and Thursday morning are scheduled for the community room in the Auburn Police Station. This afternoon’s session is scheduled for Auburn Hall. Thursday afternoon’s session is in the Auburn Recreation Department offices in Pettengill Park.
Lewiston is very walkable in places, Chauncey said. In addition to the Bates campus, downtown Lisbon Street is very walkable. The path from Lewiston’s Railroad Park, across the pedestrian bridge and Auburn’s River Walk to Festival Plaza is also nice.
Other areas – like that around the Lewiston Multi-Purpose Center, where Chauncey spoke Monday afternoon – need help.
Healthier residents
“Sometimes all it takes is an outside expert to tell people they’ve got a pretty good start already,” said Jennifer Williams, transportation planner with the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, a sponsor of the seminars.
There’s a lot at stake, Chauncey said. Cities that provide safe walking paths and bikeways tend to have higher real estate prices, healthier citizens and cleaner environments. It’s not something that changes overnight, either.
“You have to figure, it took us 50 years to get where we are now,” he said. “That’s 50 years from the end of World War II to build the kind of cities we have now. What you have to do next is ask yourself what kind of world you want for your kids or grandkids in another 50 years.”
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