I live about 12 miles outside Portland, and whenever I drive into the city, I get off Interstate 295 at Franklin Street.
Whether I get off on the northbound or southbound side, the traffic lights there and up Franklin are never synchronized. The same is true whenever I leave the Old Port and am driving down Franklin toward 295. I always seem to find myself waiting at a light – then it changes, and I have to stop with all the other cars at the next light.
Looking around me the other day, I realized that having all these cars – and there were a lot of them – idling at each traffic light, spewing pollutants out into the atmosphere, was a terrible way to treat our environment. I thought, “Shame on the city of Portland.”
This has been going on for as long as I can remember, and nothing seems to be done to set the lights so cars can move more freely and not be stopped at light after light, with junk coming out of everyone’s tailpipes. Multiple this by thousands of cars around town every day, and this is a considerable affront to the air we all breath in our beautiful state.
Can’t Mayor Ethan Strimling and City Council members do something about this?
Tom Levin
Freeport
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