Traverse City commissioners voted this week to move forward with design work for safety improvements on a stretch of West Front Street that's been the site of multiple accidents in recent years. 

Commissioners voted 5-2 - with Commissioners Tim Werner and Jackie Anderson opposed - to approve spending up to $39,221 for services for the safety improvement project affecting the stretch of West Front Street between Madison Street and the western city limits. The expenditure will pay for consulting firm Hubbell, Roth & Clark (HRC) to provide design and contract management services for the project, which is anticipated to install guardrail, signage upgrades, and in-lane pavement markings in the corridor. The improvements themselves are estimated to cost $82,700 and would come before commissioners in the future as a separate construction contract for approval. The improvements are included in the city's upcoming 2025-26 proposed budget, to be funded with traffic calming dollars.

The services contract approved this week also provides funding for the Traverse City Arts Commission and city engineering department to collaborate on creative options for the median in the middle of the street on West Front Street. The median currently houses a row of planters, but they are not secured and could become airborne if hit, posing their own safety risk. Commissioners hope to see something installed in the median that could still act as a traffic-calming measure but potentially be safer and more aesthetically inviting than the planters.