Road Construction

[MJLO]

I hear alot about people being fed up with the workzone at 28th st. I don't blame you. But give a little shout out to those of us on the north side. I've had just about all I can take of the north side rebuild of the 131. After spending the past four and a half months stuck in lines, can anyone tell me when it's going to be finished? It seems as soon as they get closer to finishing off one thing, another project starts and changes my routine completely again. I'm about to fail one of my classes because of it because not matter how early I leave, every other route I can take is clogged too. Is there light at the end of this tunnel I feel like im about ready to explode. Thanks for listening to my rant! Have a great day.

[GRDadof3]

November 2005. I feel for you MJLO. I occassionally have to go through there as well, and what a cluster****! I actually know the State Trooper who was interviewed by WOODTV8 the other night for giving out traffic tickets to people driving across the median to ESCAPE the madness. He told me he feels bad because he would do it too if it took him an hour to go from Post Drive to Ann Street, but these people are entering Northbound traffic (70 mph) going 0 mph

November is almost here.

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-...12045--,00.html

Here is the 28th Street overpass schedule:

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-...12039--,00.html

[EastownBoy]

November 2005.  I feel for you MJLO.  I occassionally have to go through there as well, and what a cluster****!  I actually know the State Trooper who was interviewed by WOODTV8 the other night for giving out traffic tickets to people driving across the median to ESCAPE the madness.  He told me he feels bad because he would do it too if it took him an hour to go from Post Drive to Ann Street, but these people are entering Northbound traffic (70 mph) going 0 mph 

November is almost here.

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-...12045--,00.html

Here is the 28th Street overpass schedule:

http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-...12039--,00.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes it does suck but in the end it will be better. If the city grows so must the roads

[MJLO]

My problem with that Eastownboy, is that the area has been growing for the better part of three decades, and they have only in the past few years decided to expand the roads. Just goes to show the lack of foresight the original planners of our freeway system were. Even though now things are different, fifty years ago when they built the Ford Freeway, the Neo-conservative leadership of the area, resisted change, much in the way the people in suburban GR still do to some extent now. Growth should have been seen as inevetable. That road should have been much much wider than they made it. I don't think there is a soul here who is not going to have some kind of ecomic or social impact when the nightmare day comes and they do FINALLY do something about it. It's rediculous.

[publius]

Back to the future, lol:

http://members.aol.com/chirailfan/grrmapt.html

on a more serious note, this link is a good read

(be sure you include the second page):

http://www.wmeac.org/about/pubs/rail3.asp

[GR_Urbanist]

My problem with that Eastownboy, is that the area has been growing for the better part of three decades, and they have only in the past few years decided to expand the roads.  Just goes to show the lack of foresight the original planners of our freeway system were.  Even though now things are different, fifty years ago when they built the Ford Freeway,  the Neo-conservative leadership of the area, resisted change, much in the way the people in suburban GR still do to some extent now.  Growth should have been seen as inevetable. That road should have been much much wider than they made it.  I don't think there is a soul here who is not going to have some kind of ecomic or social impact when the nightmare day comes and they do FINALLY do something about it.  It's rediculous.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it really a good idea to have wider roads with faster traffic that no one can cross?

1 Alpine Ave is more than enough.

[fluffy]

Alpine Ave is a nightmare all together. I hate driving that road at all.

But the road in question is actually a freeway. No human should be pedding across 131 anyways.

I have lived in Byron Center now for 4 years and have dealt with terrible construction for a long time now. My last job was in Kzoo, so I had 131S construction the entire time. A normal 45 minute commute sometimes turned into 2+ hours.

Luckilly I have had employment east and west of where I live so the South Beltline has been my friend after it had been my foe for so long.

[torgo]

Is it really a good idea to have wider roads with faster traffic that no one can cross?

1 Alpine Ave is more than enough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This has always been a difficult issue for me. Freeways are great for providing access to the city. But they tend to chop up the town horrendously. Not to mention the thousands of homes and businesses that were/are bulldozed to make room for them. But is the alternative?

I dont mind wide roads, but I would like to see more landscaped medians. Those at least make it safer for the brave pedestrian trying to cross the street.

[MJLO]

the question of alpine, yes alpine should be a wide road, it handles more cars per day than I96 that runs underneath it, that's another lack of planning issue, they should have made it a boulevard with three lanes each way. Have any of you ever been on the Major roads thru Metro Detroit. They are all divided boulevards that run much much more smooth than any of our thoroughfares here, and they handle four times as much traffic volume.

Whether or not Freeways chop up a city or not is irrelevant in my opinion. At this point, we have them, we have to deal with them, and the ones we have in Grand Rapids Suck beyond the telling, in terms of infrastructure and design. I'll just be happy when our freeway system leaps from the 1950's to atleast the 1980's We've already made great progress on the 131, at the expense to everyone in the metropolitan area. However at somepoint they are going to have to rebuild it from Burton to Ann, you can tell they've been putting that off, you think it's a nightmare now, Just wait!

[snoogit]

However  at somepoint they are going to have to rebuild it from Burton to Ann, you can tell they've been putting that off, you think it's a nightmare now, Just wait!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The suspense is killing me!

thats going to be worse then when the scurve was redone.

[joeDowntown]

You think that is bad? Try taking 96 to Detroit these days. It's a nice little drive until they drop you off in the middle of crapville (and the signs pointing to downtown just END without warning). I definitely don't want to turn this into a pissing match (so please don't be offended), but I felt like I was driving in Sarajevo, not the US.

I finally saw the Ren Cen and just kept driving in its general direction. It was like a beacon of hope.

Joe