KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Railroad crossings in downtown Kalamazoo will be assessed for possible closings after the city was awarded a $2.6 million grant Friday from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration.
The grant will enable traffic engineers to review the closure of the downtown railroad crossings at Michigan and Kalamazoo avenues on downtown’s east side. Those tracks are used to switch trains coming from a nearby railroad yard, and the trains often pose long traffic delays as people are trying to move across town.
Public Works manager and traffic engineer Dennis Randolph says the money will allow the city to study alternatives for relocating the railroad yard away from downtown and someday remove the tracks that have been in place for around 150 years. He says the changes would cut traffic delays on Michigan Avenue and Kalamazoo Avenue by eliminating around 80% of the traffic on those tracks.
The grant is in addition to $600,000 the city of Kalamazoo received last fall from the Michigan Department of Transportation to close three low-volume traffic railroad crossings near downtown – at Elm Street, Elm Crossover, and Water Street.
The Elm Crossover was closed last fall as part of the redesign of Michikal Street. The removal of railroad crossings in the downtown area is part of the city’s conversion of Kalamazoo and Michigan avenues over the next couple of years to two-way traffic through Kalamazoo’s Streets for All initiative.
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