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V O L . X X V I N O. X X V I N OV E M B E R 2 , 2 0 2 0 20 L O G I S T I C S / T R A N S P O R TAT I O N F O C U S C ushing Point in South Portland has long been a development waiting to happen. e fact that much of it has been empty since the its sprawling shipyards were largely dis- mantled in the decades after World War II has a lot to do with traffic access. e only way to get to the end of the peninsula is two-lane Broadway, which runs through a tight, mostly residential neighborhood before it dead-ends at a tangle of narrow streets, Bug Light Park, marinas and Southern Maine Community College. But development is coming, and so is the rising sea that threatens the pen- insula. Some of the peninsula was once wetlands filled in to accommodate the shipyards that supplied the U.S. Navy during the war. e challenge, plan- ners say, is to figure out how to make the area more accessible for develop- ment, while making it work better for residents. And accomplishing that with a road that cannot get any wider. e effort to solve the puzzle is start- ing this fall, with a traffic study by the city, Greater Portland Council of Governments, and the developer, PK Realty Management. "Broadway can only take so much, and we still don't have an answer for how much it can take," says South Portland's planning director, Milan Nevajda, who started his job April 21. When that answer comes, it will help guide development of 30 acres that PK Realty bought in November 2018. "It will be the framework for everything," says Jennifer Packard, president of PK Realty and manager of the Liberty Shipyard Project. e $82,000 study is being paid largely by Portland Area Comprehensive Transit System, part of Greater Portland Council of Governments, with South Portland providing a $36,000 local match. Push and pull Answers are still a ways away. e process has just started, with an initial public hearing planned for Nov. 9, and another one planned for March. But planners are working from some basic ideas, Nevajda says. Focus areas are technical fixes, like synching traffic lights; making the area more pedestrian and bicycle friendly; making public bus use more efficient; and the feasibility of marine transport between the Bug Light area and Portland. Nevajda says there is a push and pull when trying to make traffic move more efficiently while also making the cor- ridor more welcoming for bicycling and pedestrians. But making all those work is necessary, given the fact the roadway itself can't be widened. One positive is the Greenbelt, a bike and walkway built on a for- mer narrow gauge rail line. In the Cushing Point area, much of it runs along the waterfront. Making it more accessible all along Broadway will be part of the study. Solving the puzzle of how to make the access to South Portland's Cushing Point accessible to development B y M a u r e e n M i L L i k e n Broadway can only take so much, and we still don't have an answer for how much it can take. — Milan Nevajda South Portland planning director P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Milan Nevajda, South Portland's planning director, on a section of Broadway. BROADWAY OPENING

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