Road Diet Proposal Draws Crowd to Transportation Commission Meeting

The public hearing regarding a proposed “road diet” lane reconfiguration of Hagadorn Road from Grand River Avenue to Burcham Road brought a large audience to the Monday (Dec. 4) Transportation Commission meeting.

A road diet is the process of narrowing or eliminating travel lanes for vehicles to make a roadway safer by reducing speed, providing a center turn lane and adding space dedicated to bicyclists. The proposal for the section of Hagadorn Road from East Grand River Avenue to Burcham Road would reconfigure four vehicular lanes to three vehicular lanes (two through lanes and a center two-way left turn lane) and two bike lanes. 

The plan has been met with some residents in the City of East Lansing speaking out for and others against the proposal. Community members who support the road diet wish to implement bike lanes in order to lower the city’s carbon footprint and increase safety for non-motorized transportation. Other community members are concerned about an increase in traffic, car backups and cut-through traffic in their neighborhoods. Opponents also expressed concerns about the data in the road diet study presented by ROWE Professional Services Company.

Twenty community members shared their opinions with the commission – 17 who opposed the project and three who supported it. 

Opponents of the plan point to the long lines of traffic in the area because of current construction.

Much of the opposition has been brought on by the current construction on Hagadorn, which has involved lane closures and, according to speakers, increased long lines of traffic and speeding, as well as traffic cutting through the neighborhoods.

The construction currently occurring in this area is a project by Consumers Energy, which includes installation of new natural gas systems at the intersection of Grand River Avenue and Hagadorn Road.

“The Consumers job that’s going on right now is just a symptom of whenever there is construction or anything going on at that intersection [Hagadron and Grand River],” Peter Knupfer said. 

Many community members brought up a similar road diet plan presented in 2007 for Hagadorn. That plan was met with much push back as well and, ultimately, not approved.

Knupfer submitted a letter in 2007 about his concerns and presented those same concerns once again at the Monday meeting.

“This particular proposal comes back like a bad relative at Thanksgiving,” Knupfer said. “When it was already considered and rejected before, it comes with a study that reads more like a set of preconceived conclusions than an actual study that never considered the neighborhoods that abut Hagadorn Road.”

Phil Hanses also referred to the previous similar proposal and questioned why the proposal has returned. 

“I opposed this plan in 2007 and I oppose it now,” Hanses said.

“This has been proposed several times in the past and calmer heads have prevailed,” Hanses wrote in his letter of opposition. “I am not sure if you or ROWE Engineering have been on Hagadorn in the last few months while it has had the one lane closed, especially during peak traffic time or not, but it is a prime example of the chaos that will ensue if you make the proposed changes.” 

Judy Tant read her letter of opposition.

“I cannot imagine this will improve the livability of our community,” Tant said. “Just the thought of it gives me another reason to avoid downtown East Lansing.”

Those in favor of the plan cite the success of other road diet projects.

Multiple road diets have previously been implemented in East Lansing. Burcham Drive was converted from four to three lanes in 1996, Grand River Avenue west of Michigan avenue in 1997, Abbot Road from Burcham Drive to Saginaw Street in 1999, Harrison Road between Saginaw Street and Lake Lansing Road in 2002, and, most recently, Hagadorn Road north of Haslett Road. 

Tim Potter, a local resident, cited the success of these projects and encouraged others to compare what these streets looked like before and after the implementation of the road diets.

Potter also offered a couple possible solutions to address concerns many community members have surrounding drivers cutting through neighborhoods.

“On some of these side streets, to help reduce cut-through concerns and speeding concerns, is possibly adding some road bumps, speed bumps, to be installed on some of the streets that have the worst problems,” Potter said. 

Former member and chair of the Transportation Commission, Andy Draheim, expressed his support for the proposal and cited a variety of reasons and statistics as to why.

“I am a strong advocate and supporter of this change, and of road diets in general,” Draheim said. “We need for cars, cyclists and pedestrians to learn how to share a road.”

Draheim referred to a fact sheet created by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) that explains some of the common misconceptions about road diets. 

A representative from ROWE presents the findings of the road diet study.

Following the public hearing portion of the meeting, design services division manager at ROWE, Jeff Markstrom, presented the findings of the road diet study. 

He discussed the three different traffic scenarios ROWE studied revolving around the Hagadorn Road intersections, which included:

• Existing Conditions: Existing 4-lane cross section.
• Future Conditions (No Build): Forecasted 15-year (2038) traffic volumes with existing four-lane roadway cross.
• Future Conditions (Road Diet): Forecasted 15-year (2038) traffic volumes with proposed three-lane cross section.

Markstrom emphasized the decrease in crashes, specifically side swipe accidents and rear endings, that road diets would assist in. 

“The conversion from four [lanes] to three [lanes] does improve safety,” Markstrom said. “It improves left turns, it generally reduces accidents. In conclusion, we find that a conversion would not adversely impact the traffic movement on Hagadorn Road.”

The commissioners were then given time to discuss what they had heard from the public as well as from Markstrom.

“It’s important for us to look at how this impacts them [the community members], using their property and how we can minimize destruction,” Mitchell Moore said. 

With the information provided to them and the numerous opinions presented by East Lansing community members, commissioners agreed to revisit the proposal in January. At that meeting, they will make the decision whether to advise the City Council to approve the project or not. 

Corrections: The sentence “The plan has been met with some residents in the City of East Lansing speaking out for and others against the proposal” is a correction in this story. The story has also been corrected to say Tim Potter was speaking to the commission as a local resident.

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