South Portland Planning and Development Director Milan Nevajda noted that Broadway is the principle east-west roadway connecting different parts of the city. A lack of alternate routes, he said, is one of the causes of the traffic. “Broadway is the core of the community’s infrastructure,” he said. There is potential for further development near the eastern part of Broadway, with a $300,000 federal grant over the summer expected to spur further development of the former Liberty Shipyard property near Bug Light Park. If that happens, Broadway’s traffic problems in the area will only get worse, said Andrew Clark, Greater Portland Council of Government’s regional transportation planner, and one of the study’s managers. “The city of South Portland will experience some growth in the coming years, so the question is how to make that corridor as efficient as possible?” he said. https://www.pressherald.com/2020/10/27/new-study-to-look-at-passenger-ferry-between-portland-south-portland/ The $82,000 study is index funded largely by the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System, a metropolitan planning organization. The city of South Portland is providing a $36,000 local match. Clark said a number of studies in recent years have spoken to the problem, such as the 2018 Smart Corridor Study, which examined traffic issues along a 7-mile corridor connecting Portland and South Portland. According to the study, a sampling of traffic data collected over a 48-hour period in May 2017 on Broadway east of Sawyer Street showed an average count of 13,200 vehicles per day. At peak hours in the morning, the study showed as many as 890 vehicles per hour – and evening peak hours were even worse, with 1,090 vehicles per hour.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/11/25/traffic-study-seeks-to-solve-snarl-up-in-south-portland/