Traffic Calming Measures at Crosswalks by Hannaford Photo: City of Sanford
By Megan Boisvert, City of Sanford Communication Coordinator
While driving around Sanford recently, you may have noticed new roadway features at the intersection of Grammar Road and Grammar Street and near the Hannaford crosswalks on Main Street. These changes are part of the city’s ongoing effort to improve safety through traffic calming, an approach that uses proven traffic engineering techniques to encourage safer driving.
Traffic calming is intended to influence how drivers interact with the road. Rather than relying solely on posted speed limits, these techniques use visual cues and roadway design to encourage motorists to slow down, remain aware of their surroundings, and navigate intersections and crosswalks more safely.
“Traffic calming isn’t about making it harder to drive through Sanford,” said Public Works Director and City Engineer Matthew Hill. “It’s about creating streets that naturally encourage safer driving.”
The new installations were developed through a partnership between the Public Works’ Engineering Division and the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) as temporary demonstration projects. At the intersection of Grammar Road and Grammar Street, the city installed roadway delineators that visually narrow the travel lanes, along with a temporary four-way stop. On Main Street near Hannaford, flexible delineators create temporary curb extensions, or “bump-outs,” at two pedestrian crossings to improve pedestrian visibility and discourage drivers from passing stopped vehicles by using the breakdown lane.
These projects are part of Sanford’s broader Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan, a long-term initiative focused on reducing serious and fatal crashes throughout the community. The plan uses crash data, traffic analysis, public input, and engineering best practices to identify locations where safety improvements can have the greatest impact.
“The work we’ve done through our SS4A Safety Action Plan is what identified these two locations as areas where improvements could make a meaningful difference,” said Hill. “These projects demonstrate how the city can test targeted, low-cost solutions, evaluate how they perform in real-world conditions, refine them if needed, and, if successful, use what we’ve learned to guide future transportation improvements.”
As Sanford continues implementing its SS4A Safety Action Plan, residents may notice additional safety initiatives around town. Each project is tailored to the unique needs of its location, and all are aimed at making travel safer for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
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