PORTLAND – The Greater Portland Council of Governments is seeking the public’s input on what resigning Route 1 in the Greater Portland area might look like.

In late 2024, the council began a study on “Reimagining Route 1” with an eye toward traffic safety and economic development. This month, the organization has been holding public sessions on the concept, with one more virtual session scheduled for next week.

Chris Chop, transportation director at the council, said the work grew out of related studies the organization was doing around pedestrian and bicycle safety.

As part of the work, the council identified certain roadways that were at “high risk” for automobile accidents, especially involving pedestrians and bicycles, in the future.

“Route 1 certainly lit up in that analysis,” he said.

That led to a more focused study of Route 1 itself – specifically, a 40-mile segment stretching from Biddeford to Freeport. Chop said the goal is to provide recommendations on how to redesign portions of the highway to accommodate alternative transportation, namely walking and cycling.

Balancing those needs with the needs of motorists, along with municipal economic development goals, Chop said, is the hard part.

“Route 1 is a lot of different things to a lot of different people,” he said. “It is vital in connecting locals and tourists to beaches and local businesses and big businesses and theme parks and all sorts of these great different amenities that we have on the corridor. The challenge is that trade-off that you’re getting at and that’s something that we’re encouraging the public to think about too.”

The regional approach, Chop said, is necessary to make changes consistent, like when one community wants to add a bike path leading up to another community’s border.

“(If) the other community doesn’t have that shared vision, that path is just going to stop at the municipal line, so thinking regionally we can connect the dots on the city and towns aspirations for transportation and land use and economic development and then just come up with a more coordinated strategy for how to fill in the gaps,” he said.

So far this month, the government council has held public meetings about the study in Yarmouth and Scarborough.

Among other comments, Chop said participants said they liked seeing Falmouth’s answer to Route 1. It used to be a multi-lane roadway, but today it’s been narrowed, with only one lane in each direction. Officials also installed planters on the median and widened bike paths.

“I think it creates a more welcoming environment for all transportation users,” he said.

The council is planning another public meeting, this one virtual, scheduled for April 30 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Chop said he expects the study to be finished by the end of this year. Next, GPCOG will take all the data and public feedback and create a report with 15-20 recommendations for the corrid