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Lewiston staff preview Safe Streets action plan; top crash corridors, policy fixes recommended
Summary
City consultants and staff briefed the council on a Safe Streets for All (SS4A) action plan that maps Lewiston—s high-injury network, highlights top corridors and recommends engineering, policy and outreach countermeasures — staff will post the full plan and a story map for public comment.
City public-works staff and an outside traffic consultant presented the draft Safe Streets for All (SS4A) action plan at the council workshop, describing data-driven priorities and a package of engineering and policy measures aimed at preventing fatal and serious-injury crashes.
Public Works Director Kevin Gonyea and Jason Reddy, traffic team lead with consultant VHB, summarized a 10-year crash analysis, a public mapping survey and a high-injury network ranking. Reddy said the city used MaineDOT crash data and public input to identify priority corridors; the top-ranked corridor in the Lewiston analysis was Main Street between the Auburn line and Spada Street, with other high-injury segments on Lisbon Street and outer parts of Sabattus and East Avenue.
The draft plan packages countermeasures for each corridor. Engineering recommendations include access-management measures (reduce driveway conflict points), consistent crosswalk markings, lead-pedestrian intervals or exclusive pedestrian phases at signals, and bike-lane or separated bicycle infrastructure where appropriate. Reddy said FHWA-provided crash-modification factors were used to estimate likely reductions from candidate countermeasures. The plan also urges policy and process improvements: an updated Complete Streets guide, stronger alignment of CIP prioritization with safety outcomes, and a clearer development-review path for waivers so that safety is not unintentionally de-prioritized.
Staff framed the initiative within a Vision Zero approach: reduce severe crash outcomes through a combination of safer design, enforcement, education and policy change. Gonyea said the city will post the full safety action plan and an interactive story map for public review and comment, then return to the council for formal endorsement of the action plan and specific capital recommendations.
What happens next: the plan is intended to help the city compete for SS4A and other safety grants and to give staff a prioritized list of projects to fold into the CIP; council endorsement will be requested once the public comment period closes.
