PORTLAND — A group of residents has received a $10,000 grant from the American Association of Retired Persons to install traffic-calming measures on Congress Street in the East Side.

Both the city of Portland and groups of residents have been implementing changes to roadways and intersections to reduce pedestrian-related crashes and fatalities. The city has a Vision Zero department that is looking into roadway redesigns to make them safer for pedestrians. The city council is holding a meeting next week to determine immediate ways to make an intersection safer after a pedestrian died in a crash earlier this month. And, a citizens-led campaign is placing signage on radio and social media encouraging drivers to slow down.

The Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Organization and the India Street Neighborhood Organization announced last week that their joint Street Safety Team’s Eastern Congress Street Corridor Traffic Calming Project was one of 750 projects across the country to receive AARP’s Community Challenge Flagship Grant. According to AARP’s website, the grant is meant to help make immediate changes to communities to improve livability, especially for older adults.

The changes, according to the neighborhood organizations’ press release, will include applying paint, planters, flexible posts, benches, bike racks and other immediate changes to Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill and India Street neighborhoods.  

The changes are meant to slow traffic and shorten crossing distances for pedestrians. 

“The City of Portland has committed to Vision Zero, but there is a tremendous amount of work to do to meet the goal of zero pedestrian and cyclist deaths,” said Craig Bramley, a member of the Vision Zero Maine board, in the press release. “Our hope is that the efforts of groups throughout the city will both improve safety and spur our city government to prioritize this work.”