How Brighton Avenue’s New Project Could Help Prevent Serious Accidents
Portland officials recently announced a major investment in traffic safety: a $2.12 million federal grant to redesign a high-risk stretch of Brighton Avenue, one of the city’s busiest and most dangerous corridors. The funding, part of the national Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, will support a six-month demonstration project aimed at reducing crashes, protecting pedestrians and cyclists, and supporting Portland’s long-term Vision Zero goals.
For anyone who lives, commutes, or bikes in Portland, this kind of project is long overdue. For Maine car accident lawyers who represent injured Mainers every day, it is also a reminder that many preventable accidents still happen because safety issues are often addressed only after someone has already been seriously hurt.
Why Is Brighton Avenue A Safety Concern?
Brighton Avenue serves as a major gateway into Portland, connecting neighborhoods, hospitals, businesses, and residential areas. Its heavy traffic volume and multiple uses make it one of the city’s most challenging roads for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.
Safety concerns along Brighton Avenue are not tied to a single issue. Instead, they stem from a combination of design and traffic conditions that increase the risk of serious crashes, including:
- High Traffic Speeds: Long, wide stretches of roadway encourage faster driving, leaving less time for drivers to react to people crossing or turning.
- Frequent Turning Movements: Numerous driveways, intersections, and access points create unpredictable traffic patterns.
- Limited Pedestrian Refuge: Long crossing distances offer few safe places for pedestrians to pause when traffic is heavy.
- Inconsistent Bicycle Infrastructure: Gaps in bike lane protection force cyclists to share space with fast-moving vehicles.
- Visibility and Lighting Challenges: Poor lighting in certain areas reduces reaction time, especially during early morning or evening hours.
Serious crashes on roads like Brighton Avenue are rarely the result of a single bad decision. They are more often the product of roadway design that prioritizes vehicle speed over visibility, predictability, and reaction time. In 2022, 177 people died in traffic crashes in Maine, according to Vision Zero data, underscoring how common and devastating these risks can be.
When crashes occur in environments like this, injuries tend to be severe. Pedestrians and cyclists have little protection, drivers have less time to react, and small mistakes can lead to life-changing consequences.
What Will The Safety Redesign Include?
According to city officials, the six-month demonstration project will introduce a series of proven safety countermeasures designed to slow traffic, clarify movement, and reduce conflict points.
Planned improvements include:
- Roadway reconfiguration and restriping.
- A center turn lane to reduce sudden stops and rear-end crashes.
- Buffered bicycle lanes with green conflict markings.
- Delineators and planters to visually narrow the roadway.
- Improved lighting and vehicle feedback signs.
- Pavement leveling to improve visibility and installation accuracy.
The city plans to collect data before and after the demonstration, including speed studies and multimodal traffic counts. That data will be used to evaluate whether the changes reduce serious injuries and fatalities and to guide future infrastructure investments.
What Are Common Injuries In Crashes?
Crashes along busy corridors like Brighton Avenue often happen at higher speeds and involve multiple types of road users. When vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists collide in these conditions, the injuries are rarely minor. Emergency responders and personal injury lawyers frequently see serious, sometimes permanent harm resulting from these crashes.
Common injuries associated with collisions on Brighton Avenue and similar Portland roadways include:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries: Head injuries caused by sudden impact with pavement, vehicles, or interior car structures.
- Spinal Cord And Back Injuries: Damage that can lead to chronic pain, limited mobility, or paralysis.
- Broken Bones And Crush Injuries: Fractures to the legs, arms, ribs, and pelvis, often requiring surgery and long-term rehabilitation.
- Internal Injuries: Organ damage and internal bleeding that may not be immediately apparent after a crash.
- Severe Soft Tissue Injuries: Torn ligaments, muscle damage, and nerve injuries that interfere with daily activities.
These injuries often require extensive medical treatment and can disrupt a person’s ability to work, care for family, or enjoy daily life. When a crash causes this level of harm, understanding legal rights and options becomes an important part of the recovery process.
What Does This Mean For Injured Mainers?
While the Brighton Avenue project looks to the future, crashes continue to happen now. Construction timelines stretch years into the distance. Data collection takes time. In the meantime, people are still injured on busy roads across Portland and throughout Maine.
When someone is hurt in a crash, the focus often turns immediately to driver behavior. Speed, distraction, impairment, and inattention all matter. But roadway conditions matter too. Poor lighting, confusing lane patterns, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, and unclear signage can all contribute to collisions.
In serious injury cases, those factors deserve careful investigation. Responsibility does not always rest with a single person, and insurance companies are quick to oversimplify what happened.
"Winning Big for Injured Mainers"
Jabar LaLiberty, LLC has represented injured Mainers for decades. We have seen how unsafe roads, heavy traffic corridors, and delayed safety improvements affect real people, not just statistics. From Portland to Waterville and across the state, our firm has recovered more than $100 million for clients injured by negligence.
When a crash happens on a road known to be dangerous, it deserves more than a quick insurance assessment. It deserves a thorough investigation and an advocate who understands both the law and the local conditions that shaped the outcome.
If you were injured in a crash on Brighton Avenue or any other busy Maine roadway, contact us for a free case consultation. A member of our experienced legal team can help you understand your rights, your options, and what comes next.
"This firm is by far the best people to deal with. They explain everything! Jason is highly knowledgeable and very easy to talk to. His team and Vickie, his paralegal, were the best! You will absolutely not be disappointed in this legal firm." - Jamie H., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐