(NORTH YARMOUTH, Maine) Sept. 24, 2020 – The heart of North Yarmouth just added some temporary infrastructure meant to calm traffic and encourage motorists to share the road with cyclists and pedestrians, thanks to a joint effort between the Town of North Yarmouth and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.
White and yellow delineators and shared-road markings, a.k.a. “sharrows,” were added to a section of Route 115 that extends for one mile between Parsonage Road and Pea Lane on Wednesday and Thursday.
These traffic-calming features are part of the BCM’s ongoing “Imagine People Here” demonstrations, and come on the heels of a project that was recently completed in Westbrook, which added visibility to five crosswalks on the City’s Main Street.
“Route 115 is a popular route for cyclists and pedestrians in North Yarmouth, but it lacks adequate shoulders,” said BCM Assistant Director Jim Tasse. “The sharrows let drivers know that people on bikes can and will take the full lane, and the delineators will generally slow traffic, making the street more accommodating to all road users.”
The project is temporary and will be removed upon the arrival of winter weather. The town can then decide whether or not the changes were successful and practical, and if they want to install a permanent version of the installation next year.
Although the Bicycle Coalition of Maine has been conducting Imagine People Here demonstrations since 2015, the installations are also an important aspect of the BCM’s Slow ME Down anti-speeding campaign, which was launched in June 2020.
For more information about Slow ME Down, please visit bikemaine.org/slow-me-down.