City Street & Infrastructure Projects on Deck for 2026

A buffered bike lane on Front Street between Pine and Boardman – which will narrow the northern drive lane, designed to help with traffic calming – is one of several 2026 street projects to be reviewed by Traverse City commissioners at their study session tonight (Monday). And planning commissioners Wednesday gave their support to plans for a new farmers market pavilion and the reconstruction of Monroe Street this year, unanimously finding both projects to be consistent with the city’s master plan.

Commissioners will hear a presentation from staff tonight on 2026 pavement preservation projects, as well as a recommended approach for implementing complete streets guidelines. The commission just adopted a new policy in December that prioritizes “sustainable transportation modes such as bicycling, walking, rolling, micro-mobility, and public transit” as part of street design. The policy generally requires complete street principles to be applied to all city transportation projects, including “new construction, reconstruction, resurfacing, repaving, restriping, and rehabilitation.”

Under the new policy, staff will present street improvement projects to a Complete Streets Advisory Committee. But because that committee hasn’t been formed yet, there’s no group to review the upcoming slate of 2026 projects, according to City Engineer Anne Pagano.

“It is not recommended to wait for the committee to be formed to move forward with these projects, because the earlier we go to bid, the more competitive the pricing will be (bidding during the slower construction season typically results in more bids and more competition), and we have a short construction window and will need to begin these projects early in the summer season,” Pagano wrote to commissioners. 

Staff instead evaluated possible complete street improvements for the roster of projects, consulting the city’s mobility action plan, the Federal Highway Administration’s Bikeway Selection Guide, and multiple city departments and BATA to consider constraints such as speed, traffic volume, curb-to-curb width, parking layout/loss of spaces, and connections to other bike facilities. Staff then compiled design recommendations into a matrix for commission consideration.

The city has three mill-and-fill projects on deck this year, including Oak Street from Seventh Street to Thirteenth Street, Seventh Street from Elmwood Avenue to Division Street, and Elmwood Avenue from Front Street to Eleventh Street. Mill-and-fill projects are expected to be tackled in May and June. Streets are prioritized for work each year “based on their condition as well as utility replacement needs and other factors,” according to Pagano. The city also uses a Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system to rate streets on a condition of 1 (very poor) to 10 (excellent).

That same process applies to cape seal projects (roadway surface treatment work that helps extends the life of pavement). Those 2026 improvements include: Bay Street (M-72 to Spruce), Sixth Street (Beaumont to Division), Hall Street (Front to Grandview Parkway), Union Street (Garland to Union Street Bridge and Eighth to Ninth), Cass Street (North Cass Street Bridge to Washington and South Cass Street Bridge to Eighth), Eighth Street (Union to Lake), Railroad Avenue (Franklin to Eighth), State Street (Railroad to Hope), Hannah Avenue (Barlow to Bates), Quail Ridge/Huron Hills (Eastern Avenue to Center), and Front Street (Pine to Boardman). Cape seal work would take place in August and September.

For almost all corridors, staff are recommending repainting streets this year in their existing configurations. “Once the Complete Streets Advisory Committee is formed, these and other streets in the city will be prioritized for potential bicycle facility improvements in the future...” Pagano wrote, emphasizing that “paint markings can be changed” in future designs. The city’s Bay Brief states that this approach will offer “flexibility to revisit and adjust bicycle and pedestrian features in future years through a robust public process.”

However, Front Street is one area expected to change during repainting this year. Staff are recommending repainting Front Street between Pine and Boardman to “add a buffer to the existing bike lane on the north side of the street,” Pagano wrote. “This will involve narrowing the north drive lane to ten feet, which will support traffic calming along the corridor.” Commissioners are being asked to support the proposed design for all streets before projects go to bid this spring.

The city’s single biggest street project in 2026 will be the complete reconstruction of Monroe Street from Front to Bay. Commissioners already reviewed that project in December, with Monroe rated as a 2 on the PASER scale and set to receive bump-outs that will narrow every intersection, parking on both sides of the street, a realigned intersection with Bay Street, and bioswales, dry wells, and other green infrastructure.

Zach Cole, a city civil engineer, told planning commissioners Wednesday the project is the largest he’s seen in his time at the city and one that’s expected to take all construction season to complete. In response to questions about the project’s compliance with complete streets standards, City Planning Director Shawn Winter said that sidewalk connectivity is going to be built through the entire corridor – filling gaps that exist now between Hill and Wayne streets – with the narrowed intersections making “it more bike-friendly within the neighborhood.”

Planning commissioners voted unanimously to affirm that the plan for Monroe is consistent in terms of location, character, and extent with the city’s master plan. Planning commissioners also voted unanimously to affirm another infrastructure project for consistency with the master plan: a new farmers market pavilion to be installed this spring in Lot B along Grandview Parkway downtown. In partnership with that Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) project, the city will also repave Lot B and install new stormwater infrastructure.

DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder said the farmers market will relocate temporarily to Rotary Square during construction. The new pavilion will require the National Cherry Festival to reconfigure its layout for Arnold Amusements, with Burkholder saying festival organizers are aware of the project and “looking at all kinds of options” for carnival rides going forward.