KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – As of Wednesday, August 3, the City of Kalamazoo is now accepting public input on a traffic calming project.
As we reported last week, the project concerns the area between Dunkley Street and Crosstown Parkway. The city is hoping to make some short-term changes to make those roads safer, and long-term planning for street design and construction work is already underway.
Four options are being considered, which include slowing traffic by narrowing or reducing the number of lanes, adding bike lanes and on-street parking, improving pedestrian crossings and sidewalk repairs.
Residents of the city are now being invited to share input with city leaders.
On Monday, City Planner Christina Anderson spoke with WKZO about the project.
“We repeatedly have heard from the community that they would like to see slower-moving vehicles to make sure we’re allowing space for those that might be on foot, or on bikes or on transit,” Anderson said. “In order to do that, we need to look at our streets to make sure that we know who they’re serving and how they’re serving each of those users to balance all their needs.”
Anderson said that might mean slowing down traffic to make room for other users.
The ultimate goal, Anderson said, was to change these streets into a two-way format, rather than the current one-way format. However, that will take a long time, Anderson said.
“It’ll be several years before we get a shovel in the ground on any of them,” Anderson said. “We believe Westnedge and Park will probably be the last of those pairs.”
In the meantime, Anderson said the city wants to take smaller steps to address complaints that have been fielded from residents. She said more crosswalks and traffic lights while reducing speeds would help the streets become more pedestrian-friendly.
However, as previously stated, more input is being asked for, and residents have multiple options to make their opinions heard.
“We are really looking for community feedback on the whole project, but specifically on which places along Westnedge and Park residents and businesses would like to see intersection improvements so we can get pedestrians more safely across those streets,” Anderson said.
There are currently five options for meeting with officials in person, while residents can still submit feedback virtually.
To see a list of in-person events, visit the Imagine Kalamazoo website at this link.
In addition, residents can view a video presentation of the project below.
— Brandon James contributed to this reporting. —
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