KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The City is holding community meetings on plans to change Kalamazoo’s network of one way streets to two-way but don’t expect to see any orange cones until next year.
The first of two public meetings on their draft design was held last evening at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe. City Planner Christina Anderson says the plan may undergo more tweaking after they have heard from the public. The plan is to finalize the designs over the next six months and seek bids this fall.
She says it involves a lot more than changing the signs and resurfacing the pavement, because they have to do the work while maintaining some traffic, and that takes additional planning.
Anderson says their plans have already undergone major revisions because Stuart Area homeowners want downtown traffic diverted around their neighborhood.
The rebuild will include water and sewer lines, as well as electric and fiber optic cables while they have the street open.
(courtesy of John McNeill)
A second public meeting on the draft plan will be held Tuesday, May 30 at the Catalyst Center.
Anderson says making all these upgrades and at the same time trying to keep traffic moving and the downtown open is a very complex undertaking that takes a lot of planning and input. That’s what they are doing this year.
Kalamazoo Avenue is just phase one of an overhaul that will eventually touch all of the major streets in and out of downtown, and may take the better part of a decade to complete.
reporting from John McNeill
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