Plastic posts that have appeared recently on roads throughout Greater Bangor may be giving drivers a sense of claustrophobia.
The posts, or bollards, popped up on roads in Bangor, Orono, Bradley, Veazie and Hampden at around the same time and outline driving and biking lanes, giving streets the illusion of being more narrow.
But their purpose is to slow down drivers and make the streets safer, according to Madeline Jensen, a planner with the Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System. They’re part of a grant-funded Safe Streets Initiative to improve car, bike and pedestrian safety in 11 Greater Bangor towns, and were installed in collaboration with the Maine Department of Transportation and local communities.
The temporary posts, which will be removed this fall, are meant to generate feedback from residents and compare traffic data with times when the bollards were not in place, Jensen said. Many were placed in high-crash locations or where it was believed they would improve safety the most, she said.
Those locations include Hammond Street in Bangor, Main Street in Orono and State Street in Veazie.
The posts were installed at a time when car crashes are declining overall, but they result in more serious injuries, Jensen said. She said the assumption for why more crashes are serious is that more drivers are speeding or driving while distracted.
Pending the results of the temporary posts, ideas for permanent features based on data collected at the end of the summer and community feedback will be discussed by the collaborators, Jensen said.
“It’s all very much a dynamic process; kind of seeing what works, and then hopefully by the end of the summer we’ll have a pretty good idea of whether this improves safety and comfort at the location,” she said.
The bollards are the most visual part of the $500,000 initiative. Safety action plans for all 11 communities — Bangor, Bradley, Brewer, Hampden, Hermon, Milford, Old Town, Orono, Orrington, Penobscot Nation and Veazie — are being written, Jensen said. The plans are individualized to the communities and include data analysis and trends of crashes in the past decade and policy recommendations to improve road safety.
While some plans have not yet been approved, they come at a time when local councils are looking for ways to improve pedestrian, biker and car safety.
Brewer and Orono’s councils have discussed crosswalk, bike path and vehicle safety in their communities in the past year.
The Brewer City Council has been discussing ways to improve the Main Street and Wilson Street intersection. Posts have been proposed to go at that intersection, Jensen said, but construction on the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge delayed installation until next year.
Pending council approval, bollards would also be installed in Old Town next year, she said.
Orono Stops, a transportation initiative, has been a key part of the Orono Town Council’s goals. In line with their plans, bollards are now at Orono’s Main Street and Westwood Drive intersection.
Residents have already given the town positive and negative feedback, Orono Town Manager Clint Deschene said.
One resident said the bollards have made the road narrower and more difficult to drive through, Deschene said, but didn’t offer a better way to make traffic safer.
“I think it’s just the newness, you know, and people are getting used to it and saying, ‘Whoa!’ But then realizing that, yeah, this is the width of the road and where you’re supposed to travel,” he said.