Libby bill would make communities safer for pedestrians

AUGUSTA — Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, has introduced a bill that would help municipalities pay for pedestrian safety improvement projects.

LD 584 establishes a fund in the Department of Transportation that would provide money for pedestrian safety improvements, such as lights, paint, signs, speed bumps and reconstruction of intersections, according to a news release from the Maine Senate Democratic Office.

“Towns and cities struggle to finance the most basic road maintenance and improvement projects,” said Libby, a former Lewiston city councilor. “Making investments in high visibility crosswalk paint, actualized rapid-flashing beacons, and bump-outs and pedestrian refuge islands are often beyond the reach of less affluent communities but can help improve pedestrian safety significantly. Mainers should be able to safely travel on all Maine roads, not just those in communities that can afford these improvements.” There were three pedestrian fatalities in Lewiston in 2016.

Municipalities would apply for funding of up to 80 percent of the project’s costs. If the project would be in an area identified by the transportation department as a dangerous intersection, the fund would cover the full cost of the project. The bill also requires biennial reporting to the Legislature’s Transportation Committee and municipalities on the program and on pedestrian crash data.

Geoff Herman of the Maine Municipal Association and urban planner Tony Donovan spoke in favor of the bill.

The MMA’s Policy Committee voted in favor of supporting the bill and “there did not appear to be an urban-rural split with respect to the need for this type of infrastructure focus,” said Herman. “Pedestrian safety concerns with regard to state roads were quickly cited by several of our Policy Committee members from the most rural areas of the state.”

Libby also delivered to the Transportation Committee a copy of a report that he wrote with Lewiston officials, outlining improvements the city could undertake in the wake of last year’s pedestrian fatalities.

The committee will hold a work session and make its recommendation on LD 584 to the full Legislature in the coming weeks, the news release said.