East Lansing Residents Encouraged to Provide Feedback on State Roads at Webinar

The Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT, will be providing information and collecting feedback about pedestrian and bicyclist safety at a webinar Monday night. 

MDOT is holding a series of regional webinars as it updates its Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment. Tonight’s webinar will be held from 6-7 p.m. and will cover nine counties, including Ingham County. 

“Key concerns include poor crosswalk visibility, drivers failing to yield and high traffic speeds, which align with rising pedestrian fatalities across Michigan,” East Lansing City Manager Robert Belleman said at the April 7 City Council meeting. “We know firsthand how that’s impacting the City of East Lansing because these are… concerns that have been brought to [the city] and discussed over the last eight months.”

In addition to state highways and freeways, MDOT controls and sets the speed limits for stretches of some of East Lansing’s busiest streets, including Grand River Avenue and Saginaw Street. 

Some stretches of these roads have raised safety concerns, especially a stint on Grand River Avenue where Glencairn Elementary students often have to cross with only one cross walk available. This stretch of Grand River Avenue previously had a 25 mph speed limit, but it was raised to 35 mph despite local opposition.

A public comment outline prepared by Brianna Egan, who sits on the city’s Transportation Commission, includes several recommendations, including improving Michigan’s speed-setting methodologies and partnering with local governments. The recommendations are from Egan independently, not a resolution passed by the commission.

In an email, Egan told East Lansing Info that preliminary numbers show a significant increase in pedestrian traffic deaths statewide during the first half of 2025.

Additionally, a report shared with the city’s Transportation Commission showed there were at least 11 pedestrian-involved accidents in East Lansing during the first three months of 2026, Egan said, noting not all of those accidents happened on state-controlled roads. 

Tonight’s webinar can be accessed through this link. Additionally, MDOT is accepting written public feedback through Friday, April 30. 

“Because we have state highways that run through our community, I’d suggest going on their [MDOT’s] website and providing some feedback to pedestrian and bicyclist safety,” Belleman said at the April 7 meeting.

A sentence was added to this story to clarify local recommendations were not a resolution passed by the Transportation Commission.