Windham to host meeting about initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities

By Ed Pierce

Windham will host a subregional meeting of the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System’s Municipal Partnership Initiative next month, according to Windham Town Manager Barry Tibbetts.

The Town of Windham is hosting a meeting of the Portland
Area Comprehensive Transportation System's Municipal
Partnership Initiative on Nov. 9. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

During the Windham Town Council meeting on Oct. 11, Tibbetts briefed councilors about the meeting, which will be conducted from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9 at the Windham Town Hall.

Tibbetts said that the meeting is a summit for western municipalities in Cumberland County to work on the creation of a “Vision Zero” plan to reduce fatalities for pedestrians, bicyclists and those who drive automobiles on county highways.

The PACTS system builds upon the Maine Department of Transportation’s successful Municipal Partnership Initiative through use of an annual allocation of state funding matched with a minimum of 50 percent local funding for road reconstruction or rehabilitation projects. It directs the spending of more than $25 million in transportation funding each year.

Windham will host a subregional meeting of the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System’s Municipal Partnership Initiative

According to Tibbetts, the intent of this meeting is for the PACTS organization to do public outreach about the planning process and solicit input from people in the subregion, about the movement to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on local roads.

Belinda Ray, the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Greater Portland Council of Governments, sent Tibbetts a message saying that the most effective thing a community can do to begin working toward zero is to put an Action Plan in place.

“The action plan we develop for the PACTS region will outline tools and strategies the region can use to achieve the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries over a number of years,” Ray wrote. “The plan will also identify and prioritize specific areas, corridors, intersections, and streets that are high-crash areas and therefore the most important for us to address.”

She said participants at the summit, will receive an overview of Vision Zero, what an Action Plan would include, and why it's important for this region to have one. The summit meeting also will have a community mapping exercise to encourage people to identify what they see as problem areas in their towns; and they will share some of the crash data that they've compiled to date.

Tibbetts encouraged councilors and anyone interested to attend the meeting. <