City Awarding Contract to Upgrade Downtown Maplewood Avenue Traffic Signal System

The City of Portsmouth Department of Public Works has reviewed bids and is awarding a contract to Electric Light Company of York, Maine for the upgrade of the traffic signals at three intersections along Maplewood Avenue at Deer Street, Hanover Street and Congress Street. The Parking & Traffic Safety (PTS) Committee recommended the changes in December 2019. The changes will upgrade the signals to provide concurrent pedestrian phasing to deliver the following benefits:

• To improve pedestrian access to and from the Foundry Parking Garage
• To comply with ADA accessibility requirements for pedestrian traffic signals
• To shorten pedestrian wait times by up to 80 seconds
• To improve traffic flow, shortening the wait-time for stopped traffic by 30 seconds
• To reduce the number of pedestrians crossing against the signal (jaywalking)