Officials say the project is part of the city’s Vision Zero pedestrian safety effort.
Posted May 22
The city of Portland will install traffic calming measures in Payson Park next month in response to ongoing concerns from residents and a study that confirmed vehicles consistently speed there.
Officials said the project, which will include raised speed tables and reconfigured roads with bike lanes, will be installed in June with funding secured from last year’s Back Cove Music & Arts Festival.
A city news release said the work was driven by residents and community groups like Friends of Payson Park, who have long observed motorists speeding on Catafalque Drive and Arboretum Park, the two main roads that have posted speed limits of 15 mph.
A study conducted in March found that 97% of vehicles were speeding on Arboretum Road — where vehicles enter from Ocean Avenue — with an average speed of 24 mph.
The city’s plan would re-stripe both roads to add 5-foot-wide bike lanes, and place two raised speed tables with crossings on Arboretum Road and one on Catafalque Drive. The project would also test closing the portion of Catafalque that intersects with Baxter Boulevard to vehicle traffic, only allowing pedestrians and bicycles.
The park is one of the city’s most-used, featuring several ball fields, tennis/pickleball courts, a basketball court and is also a popular destination for winter recreation.
Its location between highly traveled arterials like Washington and Ocean avenues also makes it an attractive cut-through for motorists looking to avoid peak-hour traffic.
Councilor Anna Bullett, who represents District 4 where the park is located, said vehicle speed and lack of pedestrian infrastructure at Payson Park have been a concern for as long as she’s lived in the neighborhood, which is almost a decade.
Ashley Flowers, a yoga instructor and member of the Friends of Payson Park, said Friday that the project is a step toward creating a park that “feels designed first and foremost for pedestrians, families and park users — not as a cut-through for drivers.”
“Payson Park is such a special community space, and anything we can do to make it feel safer and more welcoming for the people spending time there feels like a positive investment to me,” she said.
City staff said the project is part of Portland’s “Vision Zero” pedestrian safety effort, which has gained support and momentum following a deadly year for pedestrians in 2025.
The city also recently installed new signage at two intersections along Franklin Street downtown, where two pedestrians were killed in a one-year span.
City spokesperson Jessica Grondin said the installations — at Franklin and Congress streets and Franklin Street and Cumberland Avenue — provide “blank-out” signs that can adjust and activate based on conditions, either flashing “No Turn on Red” or “Turning Vehicles Yield to Pedestrians.”
Grondin said public works officials chose the intersections based on traffic volume and pedestrian activity, and by clarifying right-of-way, “the city aims to create a safer environment for all residents and visitors navigating the downtown corridor.”
The Bicycle Coalition of Maine this week hosted a Ride/Walk of Silence to honor pedestrians and cyclists who have been injured or killed, and advocates have put pressure on city and state officials to do more to address unsafe roads.
City officials said community members and organizations have voiced concerns about pedestrians and cyclists “feeling uncomfortable” using Payson Park roads, and that a lack of dedicated multimodal facilities there leads to unsafe travel.
According to Grondin, the funding comes from a $100,000 donation that the Back Cove music festival organizers made last year to the Portland Parks Conservancy, an independent, nonprofit group that works to support and improve city parks.
Of the $100,000, the conservancy is giving $90,000 to the city to pay for the Payson Park traffic calming work, and $10,000 will support the conservancy’s work in parks citywide.