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Some prefer mixed-use development, others want to see more open space, and finding the money is still an issue.

By TOM BELL, Staff Writer September 3, 2009

PORTLAND — Residents who turned out for a planning workshop Wednesday mixed and matched design ideas for transforming Franklin Arterial into a pedestrian-friendly roadway.

There was just one missing piece – money.

It would costs tens of millions of dollars to turn the vision into reality. But city officials hope that the power of great ideas and a collaborative planning process will make the project a strong candidate for funding through congressional earmarks.

The arterial, which is just seven-tenths of a mile long, is part of the federal highway system.

Proposals for the project would open up private and public land to development in varying degrees, and officials hope to use the tax revenue from that to pay for a portion of the project.

"The funding piece is the only unknown," said Markos Miller, co-chair of the Franklin Street Study Committee. "We aren't floating anything out there that is pie in the sky. We are not advancing anything that is not possible."

The 15-member group, which was appointed by the City Council, has been working on the project for about nine months. The committee wants to eliminate the wide grass-covered median that exists on Franklin today.

When the arterial was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the median was supposed to provide space for two high-speed travel lanes. But the lanes were never built. Eliminating the median would allow more space for bike lanes, open space and development.

At Wednesday's meeting, which was attended by more than 50 people, the committee sought feedback on three scenarios:

• A "multi-lane boulevard" that would have six lanes of traffic, including two low-speed local access lanes to accommodate bicycles, parking and future transit.

• An "urban street" that would compress the travel lanes and open up land on both sides of the road for development. The plan also would allow for parallel parking.

• An "urban roadway" that would emphasize creating public green space and enlarging nearby Lincoln Park.

There was no clear consensus Wednesday on which plan is preferred. Some residents said they liked the idea of encouraging mixed-use development, but others voiced support for creating more open space.

Alida Payson, 26, who lives on Munjoy Hill, said she opposes any plan that would displace the community garden near the Kennedy Park housing project.

"Why put concrete over it?" she asked. "It seems like paving paradise."

The Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System funded the $30,000 study of Franklin Arterial. The planning agency has allocated $100,000 for the next phase of the project, which is to analyze the cost and feasibility of proposed designs. That phase will occur in 2010.

State Rep. Herb Adams, D-Portland, said the community outreach presents a sharp contrast to the top-down planning decisions that occurred when neighborhoods were razed in the 1960s to make way for the arterial.

"The city just told people, 'We are taking your house. Here's the plan,'" Adams said.

Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:

tbell@pressherald.com