LEWISTON — Drivers may think they’re being chased away from Canal Street downtown because of all the changes Build Maine participants are making Wednesday and Thursday.

But that’s just not true, organizers say.

“What we’re trying to do is create a Canal Street that continues to work for traffic, but also works better for people and bikes,” said Kara Wilbur, one of the organizers of the Build Maine Conference.

In fact, they want the cars to come: They’re a big part of the experiment to prove that pedestrians and traffic can mix comfortably.

Canal Street usually works just fine for traffic, with two lanes starting at Ash Street that funnel people quickly past downtown. There are a few stoplights on the way, but not many others reasons to slow down — some parking lots, a few on-street parking spaces and a garage.

That’s changed for now. The second lane is gone until Friday, replaced by a row of reverse-angle parking lots between Ash and Pine streets and an on-street bazaar south of Pine.

Volunteers spent Wednesday setting up the shared space that will be on full display all day Thursday.

It’s a real-world example of what over 250 urban planners will be talking about Thursday in Bates Mill Building No. 1 as the Build Maine Conference begins.

The conference brings together urban planning professionals to discuss new modern urbanist theory and explain how building scale, road planning and development can affect a community’s future growth opportunities, economy and overall health.

It’s sponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism, the Maine Municipal Association, the Maine Real Estate and Development Association, and GrowSmart Maine.

This is the third time the Bates Mill complex has hosted the conference, and the third time Lewiston has served as the urban planning petri dish.

Volunteers were busy Wednesday converting the block in front of the empty Pine Street parking lot into a mixed-use intersection, with faux buildings, parks, sidewalk cafes, a beer garden and other attractions. It’ll serve as the lunch break destination for conference-goers, but the public is invited to come down, too.

Gisele Guerrette of Grow L+A said one vendor is setting up a huge checkerboard so people can play life-sized checkers. Another is bringing a piano, open for anyone wanting to play.

Farther up Canal Street, between Ash and Pine, Abby King led volunteers from Bicycle Maine who converted one of the travel lanes into reverse-angle parking spaces. King said it is meant to show how easy and useful that parking configuration can be.

Unlike traditional head-in angled parking spaces, drivers have to stop and back in. “It’s safer for drivers once they’ve parked because everything now is oriented towards the sidewalk,” King said. “If you have kids, they’re moved to the sidewalks and that’s where the trunk is if you have to load or unload.”

It’s also safer for drivers as they leave, since they have a better view of oncoming traffic, both cars and bicycles.

“It’s actually much easier and faster than parallel parking,” she said.

The main event kicks off at 8 a.m. Thursday and includes presentations by nationally renowned urban philosophers, designers and entrepreneurs on the other side of Canal Street, at the Bates Mill.

Tickets for that main event are $75 and available online at the Build Maine website, www.build-maine.com.

Featured speakers include Burlington, Vt., Mayor Miro Weinberger, Saco City Administrator Kevin Sutherland, author and social critic James Howard Kunstler and Buffalo, N.Y.-based urban preservationist and real estate developer Bernice Radle.

A special evening keynote session wraps up the conference at 5:30 p.m. at the Agora Grand Event Center, 220 Bates St. It features Asheville, N.C.-based planner Joe Minicozzi, who will discuss mistakes in building and financing cities. It is free and open to the public.

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