Kalamazoo officials say crashes are lower downtown with new street layout

KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The city of Kalamazoo says crashes are down on Michigan Avenue downtown between Main and Harrison streets are down for August through October of this year compared to the average from 2013 to 2022.

There were 22 total crashes in that stretch, down 25% and crashes with injuries have dropped to zero.

City traffic engineer Dennis Randolph says semi traffic is also lower while overall traffic has increased from 14,000 to 15,000 vehicles a day. Michigan Avenue has lost two lanes of traffic for a bike lane and a new parking lane next to the bike lane.