Re-Urbanizing the Urban Fabric: Portland’s Franklin Street

Fifty years ago, numerous Portland neighborhoods were destroyed to make way for the Franklin Street arterial. Hundreds of residents and local businesses, many of immigrant and low-income communities, were forced out so that new suburbanites could easily commute back into the city. Franklin Street, once lined with trees and historic homes, became a ¾ mile mini-highway that turned its back on the city.

Twenty years-ago local residents organized to advocate for a new design that restored Franklin Street to the urban fabric of the Portland peninsula. They formed the ad hoc Franklin Reclamation Authority (FRA) to advance a vision of a Franklin Street where people could live, work, and play, as well as get around the city. Their efforts have advanced local and state thinking about Franklin Street. The city of Portland is now in the final stages of a redesign of the street.

In 2018, GrowSmart Maine presented the City of Portland with a Maine Smart Growth Award for Outstanding Plan for Franklin Street Redesign. Eight years later, GrowSmart Maine would like to revisit Franklin Street to see the progress of the plan that converts an auto-centric design into a multi-modal corridor, improving safety and accessibility for all users.”

Join Grow Smart Maine’s Events Committee Member Markos Miller, a FRA founding member, to learn about the history of the historic Franklin Street communities, the street redesign process, and how the corridor could unlock opportunities to combat sprawl with housing and economic development, while creating a vibrant multi-modal urban street that better balances the needs of commuters with local residents.

This will be an urban walk. Participants should have good walking shoes and be able to walk on irregular surfaces. Highly visible clothing and a water bottle are suggested.