Longfellow Square Crossing

This crosswalk across State Street has always been a bit of a bottleneck. It located right after the major Longfellow Square intersection of State and Congress Streets and provides pedestrians a direct route for heading into the West End via Pine Street. Here is a Bing maps bird's eye view photo of the area. I'm not sure how long ago they added the little flashing flashing LED lights below the yellow pedestrian sign on the other side of the street from this photo, but it's a nice touch to signal when people are trying to cross. Ultimately, this crossing and the rest of State Street would be vastly improved by slowing traffic that is cruising through Portland as fast as possible to cross the Casco Bay Bridge. 

A Way Across Marginal Way

Looks like this pedestrian refuge island on Marginal Way, conveniently located across from the entrance to Bayside Village and Walgreens/Trader Joe's, is complete. It also appears that they might even add some flashing lights on the poles. similar to the nearby crosswalk on the Preble Street extension near Hannaford. If all of the proposed development in Bayside comes true, I imagine that this intersection may someday have a full set off traffic lights.

Paint Your Own Crosswalk

This is a crosswalk across Elm Street, at Monument Square:

And with a bucket of high-visibility-glow-in-the-dark-annoyingly-bright yellow paint:

Of course, I wouldn't actually paint my own crosswalk. This random story from 2008 I came across details someone in Indiana who was jailed for taking matters into his own hands after the city decided not to paint a crosswalk.

Paint it White

It's nice to see the freshly painted crosswalks around downtown. If you have been outside this last week then you have probably noticed them too. I think they help alert drivers of pedestrian crossing areas better than signage alone.

There remains some places around the peninsula that are oddly lacking crosswalks. For example, the intersection of Free and Center Streets, which is at a pretty central pedestrian location directly between Monument Square and the Civic Center:

Permanent Sidewalks

Spring is in the air, which means, among other things, that the time for re-painting the city's roads is near. In addition to painting yellow center lines and bicycle lanes, crosswalks are also re-painted at least once a year. In addition to saving some money on paint, I think 'permanent' sidewalks look better and help give the road  some character.

The type of crosswalk I'm speaking of, on Federal Street by Monument Square:

Example of a less permanent crosswalk on Congress Street:

There are some good examples of these permanent crosswalks around the peninsula, and I say there is always room for more. They of course are more expensive than painted crosswalks initially (perhaps depending on the material used), and do require upkeep (to keep the crosswalk accessible to all users), but they usually look more attractive and can be safer by not fading and being more visible to motorists.