PORTLAND, Maine — Business owners in the Old Port are pushing for improvements on two cobblestone streets.
The cobblestone streets in the Old Port are part of Portland’s unique charm, but there are some issues with Wharf and Dana Streets.
“We’ve gotten a bunch of interest from the property owners down there, plus we’ve identified that as an area of the city that needs to get some work done,” Portland Public Works Director Chris Branch said.
The city says they need to rebuild the streets so they’re ADA compliant.
They also need to improve drainage and make the roads safer.
Business owners tell me they’ve been pushing for change for awhile. The owner of Portmanteau tells me she wants to see the cobblestones stay but it really needs redone. @WGME pic.twitter.com/wD4nfEqnuF
— Lauren Healy (@LaurenWGME) January 2, 2020
“If you walk down Wharf Street right now, it’s very uneven, there’s a lot of crevices between the pavement, it’s difficult to walk on even though it’s a pedestrian area,” Branch said.
Nancy Lawrence is one of the business owners pushing for change.
“It’s still charming,” Lawrence said. “Every bride, every engagement picture gets taken on this street.”
Lawrence wants to see an easier to navigate street for her customers at Portmanteau.
She says it will hopefully help the shops in the heart of the city, but she’s worried how the construction could affect her business.
“What might happen, is if they do really big re-dos, since it would have to be built out in the months where businesses are good here it might hurt business,” Lawrence said.
The city hired a landscape architect, who came up with four different options for the city and public to review.
One of those concepts would include making Wharf into a pedestrian walk.
“Are people interested in a pedestrian way? Like they have in Burlington, Vermont?” Branch said.
The city says they want to preserve the history on those streets, but also make it safer and smoother.
“I would love to see them pull it back up again and properly bed it back down again,” Beverly Liberty of Liberty Graphics Company Store said. “Keep it, because it’s the most photographed street here in Portland.”
City leaders are planning on having a meeting at the end of the month.
No specific date has been set as of yet, but the public will be invited to attend.