Some Traverse City residents have launched a petition to undo the temporary restriping of Eighth Street to three automobile lanes and two bike lanes - an experimental design that was itself driven by a petition of local residents.

Nearly 550 supporters have signed the Change.org petition to restripe Eighth Street back to four automobile lanes. "We the undersigned DO NOT support the Eighth Street road test," reads the petition. "We feel the city should comply with the October 2013 corridor study, which states that the road should maintain a four-lane layout across the Boardman neighborhood. We feel that appropriately-sized bike lanes should exist; however, the currently installed lanes are negatively affecting our quality of life." The petition concludes: "We ask that he commission, planners and managers consider this petition a voice of the public and include the opinions of its community members as concrete data while conducting this road test."

City officials have repeatedly asked for patience during the experimental restriping period, which is intended to test traffic flow and efficacy for one year ahead of a complete reconstruction of the corridor planned for 2018. The evaluation period will be followed by public input sessions to determine whether the new configuration should be kept, discarded in favor of the road's former design or used to identify a third alternate design.