Two-Way State Street Tweaks Coming
A month after Traverse City commissioners narrowly approved permanent two-way traffic flow on State Street downtown, the city’s Downtown Development Authority will try and make it work better.
The DDA Board on Friday unanimously approved a contract of up to $20,000 with Progressive Companies “to identify and prioritize some of the first-phase modifications needed to support the continued two-way configuration,” according to a board memo from DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder.
The city commission’s 4-3 vote in July to approve permanent two-way traffic on State and Pine streets and part of Boardman Ave. followed a 3-year pilot project administered by the DDA that ended decades of one-way, west-to-east traffic flow on State Street through downtown.
Data on traffic and pedestrian movements collected by Progressive and the city during the pilot project showed the change slowed traffic speeds, increased the use of State Street in terms of parking revenues, and reduced the number of pedestrian/cyclist mishaps along the corridor. The two-way conversion also gained the support of a majority of property owners with businesses along State Street, officials said.
But there have also been bumps in the road. Traffic back-ups along State Street waiting for vehicles making left turns to Union and Cass streets generated a number of complaints on social media over the summer, with some residents saying they avoid going downtown because of the traffic snarls.
Burkholder said city staff and consultants have discussed on-going implementation of the two-way conversion and identified two “immediate needs” along the route. The first is to review the design of the intersection at Front and Pine streets, along with the upgrading the traffic signals at the State/Union (pictured above) and State/Cass intersections to allow for more left-hand turns.
Burkholder said the city engineering department will take the lead on re-designing the Front/Pine street intersection working with project consultants, while Progressive staffers will focus on the other two intersections. That work will center on traffic signal upgrades to create left-turn queues in the signals and the potential for building slip lanes for turning vehicles to help improve traffic flow.
“Those are the two top priorities we will be working on with that group,” Burkholder told the board. “In addition there are other things like pavement markings and we have a lot of temporary stop signs, so there’s kind of a plan to make the temporary permanent.”
Consultants will also look at other at other potential features for State Street, including mid-block crosswalks, single or dual bike lanes and removing some parking spots to improve traffic flow.
“A portion of this (contract) is devoted to having those initial conversations,” Burkholder said. “I want to be clear this isn’t the beginning of a long, multi-year process…it’s just to talk about here are four or five options of what it could look like.”
Mayor Amy Shamroe questioned how long that work will take to complete.
“We’re talking about creating this array of options through this - when could we expect that array of options to be presented?” Shamroe asked.
Burkholder noted that Progressive staff has already done some of the needed work, and he hoped to have those options ready for review by the city’s Complete Streets Committee by October or November.
Burkholder said the current DDA budget has some $200,000 for implementing the two-way traffic conversion. Depending on the consultants’ recommendations, Burkholder noted there will be ongoing expenses associated with the traffic signal upgrades and related work that will need further approval from the DDA Board.
Board member Mike Powers suggested that the engineering work include reviewing the potential for removing a city utility pole at the State/Union street intersection to accommodate more undergounding of utility lines downtown. Member Caitlyn Early voiced support for implementing longer pedestrian crossing times at the impacted intersections.