ROCKLAND — The City of Rockland will conduct a demonstration project this spring on Pleasant Street from Union Street to Broadway in order to improve the safety of walkers and bicyclists, according to a news release from the City Manager’s office.

The project will consist of what are called advisory shoulders and will use dashed lines to create shoulder lanes on both sides of the street.

The visual narrowing of the road will encourage motor vehicles to slow down, and persons walking or bicycling will have a clearly marked area in which to use the road.

Cars will be able to use the advisory shoulders in order to accommodate oncoming traffic but must yield to pedestrian and bicyclists.
The demonstration project is widely used in Europe and can be found in other cities and towns in the State of Maine.
 
The goals of the project are:
 
1. To create clearly marked space for bicyclists and walkers on the road’s edge.
 
2. To narrow the road as a traffic calming strategy to improve compliance with the posted speed limit.
 
3. To use this marking strategy in other areas of the city for traffic calming measures.
 
Signage will be installed on the street explaining the advisory lanes and the line painting will occur in June 2022. 
 
“We know this is a new concept and may take some time to get used to so please be patient as we go through this together,” the news release said. “This is a demonstration project so we encourage your feedback on the success of the traffic calming throughout the summer.”