City takes aim at traffic snarl

Growth of SMCC creates more traffic on Broadway, riling local residents

SOUTH PORTLAND — It may be a case of beware what you wish for.

In many ways, the growth of Maine’s community college system would seem to be a good thing. But, to residents of South Portland’s east end, particularly the Willard and Ferry Village neighborhoods, increased enrollment at local Southern Maine Community College campus has brought an unaccustomed bustle to their once bucolic boroughs.

“Some of our members complain that it can take 10 minutes to get out of their driveways, or the side streets, onto Broadway,” Willard Neighborhood Association Secretary Devon Gray said last week.

With those concerns in mind, a community forum has been called to hear out local residents. The meeting, to be attended by City Planner Tex Haeuser, City Transportation Director Tom Meyers, and SMCC President Ron Cantor, as well as members of the City Council, will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18, in SMCC’s culinary arts building at 80 Fort Road.

Haeuser acknowledges that the spike in traffic flow on Broadway, between Cottage Road and the college campus is real. A December 2009 traffic study conducted by Sebago Technics showed a 6-10 percent spike, depending on the time of day, at the Broadway intersection with Sawyer Street. At that time, at least 832 vehicles, and as many as 1,127, passed the intersection every hour between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“It’s true that, without a traffic light to break up traffic flow, it can be difficult to get onto Broadway in that area,” said Haeuser. “However, our study showed that the increase in traffic is almost entirely on Broadway. There has not been a similar increase on the side streets that would warrant putting in a traffic light.”

Based on state traffic flow criteria for installation of a traffic light, the volume on Broadway can approach 245 percent of the need. However, the 2009 Sebago study showed the sidestreet traffic volume got not closer than 49 percent of the volume that would warrant a new traffic light.

However, traffic going to the college continued to grow. According to Matt Wickenheiser, director of college relations, enrollment has grown from 3,505 in the fall of 2003 to 7,482 in the fall of 2011. For the most recent year, he said, 5,600 student were taking at least one class at the South Portland campus.

The school does offer students free transportation on city buses, said Wickenheiser, paid for out of student parking fees. The primary purpose is to help clear congestion at campus parking lots, but the program does have an ancillary benefit of clearing about 220 cars per day from Broadway. The program is showing increase usage. For the 2011-2012 school year, the school paid for 90,894 student bus trips, up 13.4 percent from the previous year.

Cantor said the college is taking additional steps to do its part. Although Gray and her fellow Willard Neighborhood residents point to a 2006 collapse of talks between SMCC and the city over construction of a new dorm, long before Cantor took over as president last year, he says he agrees with their other assertion that students should be encouraged to attend classes at other sites.

The new Brunswick campus and nine satellite locations are in use, he said, and online classes take from of the burden. On Tuesday, Cantor met with college officials on another initiative, to shift 8 a.m. classes to start as early as 7 a.m. instead.

“We believe that even a 15- or 20-minute change in scheduling from the peak hours, when people are also community to work and area schools can make a big difference,” said Cantor. “But I look forward to the traffic forum as a listening session, as it will be my first opportunity since coming on board last year to hear the concerns and needs of area residents in a formal setting.”