Highway and Road Construction Updates

[thebeerqueer]

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Here's a prime example: Bridge Street is the main detour route for I-196 traffic through downtown. That new "North" project on Bridge has the street pinched down to one lane in each direction with no left turn lane or area to go around a left-turner. Why oh why is the city allowing left turns onto Winter Avenue? Those left turners can just go up a street and turn left at Seward where there's a light and circle back around. The way it's set up now, a left-turner can back up traffic way back past Mt Vernon and Scribner, so that no one going straight can make it through the light at Mt Vernon. You can feel the road rage building in that area every time I drive through there, with good reason. 

Try cycling through that area, it's complete bedlam. I try to avoid that area like the plague. 

[GRDadof3]

6 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

Try cycling through that area, it's complete bedlam. I try to avoid that area like the plague. 

I can't even imagine. And going up to 6th is probably not much better to get to the West side?  Oh remember when someone had the great idea to turn the 6th Street Bridge into a pedestrian bridge? lol

[Guest]

I agree people shouldn't be able to turn left onto Winter, BUT technically people aren't supposed to turn left on to summer and do it all the time and it is very clearly marked with signs, islands and a curved right only turn.  Bridge heading W up to Turner is a mess too with all the dumb dumbs who don't see the "THRU TRAFFIC MERGE RIGHT' and 'LEFT TURN ONLY' signs and try to go straight through the intersection.

I do give the city credit for planning their Ionia/196/Division project during the MDOT closure, but as I said that leaves only Monroe out of DT which is dug up now...

[grandrollerz]

On 6/4/2019 at 2:51 PM, mielsonwheels said:

Besides, I believe the long term plan is to have a board walk that starts down on Division by Lookout Park and winds it's way up to the Hastings/Coit intersection. They have already started part of the path up on Hastings.



Are there any solid plans on this path?  This is a great idea.  I cant do stairs and a path at ADA grade would be wonderful!!

[JoeSchmo]

4 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

Are there any solid plans on this path?  This is a great idea.  I cant do stairs and a path at ADA grade would be wonderful!!

https://secure1.state.mi.us/mirgs/_Upload/69791-2GRHastingsProjectLocationMap.pdf

Above is a proposal I found that has information regarding the proposed trail on Hastings.

EDIT: I havent been over in that area lately, but from the proposal it looks like they are extending part of the path to Fairview Ave during the 196 construction

Edited June 28, 2019 by JoeSchmo

[WMrapids]

On 6/28/2019 at 9:56 AM, JoeSchmo said:

https://secure1.state.mi.us/mirgs/_Upload/69791-2GRHastingsProjectLocationMap.pdf

What is the “potential future building” seen near the county building?

[JoeSchmo]

On 6/29/2019 at 10:02 AM, WMrapids said:

What is the “potential future building” seen near the county building?

Thats just currently an empty narrow parcel owned by the city along this 'proposed' path connection.  I'm guessing its the consideration that this land could eventually be built on? 

I dug into the document and it certainly is mix of sources.  Part of the section on Belknap lookout is quite old (2006) and the part about the Crescent Park mentioned above is from the study on Michigan Ave in 2015, but this also mentions the trail on Hastings.   I reverse searched for some of the original sources and found them below...if interested

Belknap Lookout Plan (2006) - https://www.belknaplookout.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/MOBL-NOBL-Charratte-Aug-2006.pdf

Michigan Street Corridor Plan (2015) - https://www.grandrapidsmi.gov/files/assets/public/departments/planning-department/files/master-plan/neighborhood-plans-and-projects/area-specific-plans/michigan-street-corridor-plan.pdf

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by JoeSchmo

[Allison Slater]

On 6/25/2019 at 8:53 PM, Floyd_Z said:

Getting out of DT has really sucked lately.  I park at Ottawa/Fulton ramp.  With Ionia closed everyone is dumped onto Fulton WB.  The ramp usually backs up 3 or 4 levels. With Division and Ionia closed getting out of DT heading north, the only through road is Monroe, which is now closed to fix the hydrant system that was damaged at Embassy Suites.... good times!

Hey, you know what'd be cool? Let's -activate- Fulton by turning it into one lane in each direction! *sarcasm*

On 6/27/2019 at 6:58 PM, Floyd_Z said:

I agree people shouldn't be able to turn left onto Winter, BUT technically people aren't supposed to turn left on to summer and do it all the time and it is very clearly marked with signs, islands and a curved right only turn.  Bridge heading W up to Turner is a mess too with all the dumb dumbs who don't see the "THRU TRAFFIC MERGE RIGHT' and 'LEFT TURN ONLY' signs and try to go straight through the intersection.

I do give the city credit for planning their Ionia/196/Division project during the MDOT closure, but as I said that leaves only Monroe out of DT which is dug up now...

Maybe we could benefit from some sort of railing down the middle like they do in Japan to physically prevent left turns without impacting space for traffic? Or even just those cone things being used on Division with the bike lanes (although railings look nicer and won't get destroyed in winter by the plows)

[54equalsunity]

Maybe we could benefit from some sort of railing down the middle like they do in Japan to physically prevent left turns without impacting space for traffic? Or even just those cone things being used on Division with the bike lanes (although railings look nicer and won't get destroyed in winter by the plows)

I think dieting Fulton down to three lanes would be a great idea. Why should cars be the priority?

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[GR_Urbanist]

8 minutes ago, 54equalsunity said:

I think dieting Fulton down to three lanes would be a great idea. Why should cars be the priority?

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If I was to go out on a limb, I would think it was due to a lot of them makes them the priority.

The city isnt solving that by trying to make it even more of a pain to drive thinking that people are going to hop on buses or take a bike for a trip DT. The place simply is not that important to most people's lives to make that effort.

Since the parking issues alone are hurting the district in terms of attracting stuff like retail, no need to add to that right now.

[Khorasaurus1]

1 hour ago, 54equalsunity said:

I think dieting Fulton down to three lanes would be a great idea. Why should cars be the priority?

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I'm usually a big proponent of converting to 3-lane cross-sections, but I think we need the crosstown through lanes, for both cars and the heavy bus traffic that Fulton gets. And I walk down Fulton every day to get to work.

I think a better idea would be to add a median to Fulton like it has east of Division.  Left turns onto Louis aren't necessary and left turns from eastbound Fulton onto Ottawa aren't legal, so there should be plenty of space, even allowing for all westbound left turns to remain in place. The median could have badly-needed trees, or at least landscaping, and would reduce "broad expanse of concrete" feeling. 

The widened sidewalk by the Residence Inn and the new designs for the Van Andel plaza will help the pedestrian experience, too, without reducing auto capacity. 

[54equalsunity]

If I was to go out on a limb, I would think it was due to a lot of them makes them the priority.
The city isnt solving that by trying to make it even more of a pain to drive thinking that people are going to hop on buses or take a bike for a trip DT. The place simply is not that important to most people's lives to make that effort.
Since the parking issues alone are hurting the district in terms of attracting stuff like retail, no need to add to that right now.

Outside of rush hour and major events at Van Andel (which pale in comparison to rush hour, even), that area is not a pain to drive through. I drive for a rideshare service and if anything I get caught up more by traffic lights than actual traffic. And outside of the rush hours, that holds true for anywhere in the metro area.

Besides, the city saw fit to construct dedicated bike lanes on Division (taking away lanes from cars, oh, the horror!), and the downtown stretch of Fulton is much, much livelier than that. Granted, the traffic counts are higher, but if we're going to play the "cars = space for cars" game we're going to lose every time.

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[Khorasaurus1]

57 minutes ago, 54equalsunity said:

Outside of rush hour and major events at Van Andel (which pale in comparison to rush hour, even), that area is not a pain to drive through. I drive for a rideshare service and if anything I get caught up more by traffic lights than actual traffic. And outside of the rush hours, that holds true for anywhere in the metro area.

 

It's REALLY bad right now at rush hour. But that's because of the 196 closure for the most part. 

You can have some roads in an urban network that are primarily for cars, provided that you accommodate pedestrians appropriately (and Fulton has a ton of pedestrians). The left turn lane is currently a lot of wasted space that could be better used, even while accommodating plenty of stacking space for left turns. It's also possible that the through lanes could be narrower and that space could be used to widen sidewalks.

More bike lanes in the core of downtown and in Heartside would be good, of course, but I think Lyon/Fountain/Oakes/Cherry are better options than Fulton. 

[GRDadof3]

A friend of mine said that Leonard backs up from the E Beltline all the way to Plymouth at rush hour. Takes an hour to get through. That can't be...

[Raildude's dad]

According to google maps, it's backed up a little over half way to Leffingwell  right now.  Leonard Crahen will be open sometime next week  or maybe earlier. That will help a bit.

I crossed the EBL at about 7:40 this morning on Knapp.  Both SB lanes stop and go as far as I could see either direction. I was going to Lowell via Knapp to Pettis to M-21. The lady behind me followed me from Knapps Corner area  all the way to Lowell.

[Allison Slater]

10 hours ago, 54equalsunity said:

Outside of rush hour and major events at Van Andel (which pale in comparison to rush hour, even), that area is not a pain to drive through. I drive for a rideshare service and if anything I get caught up more by traffic lights than actual traffic. And outside of the rush hours, that holds true for anywhere in the metro area.

Besides, the city saw fit to construct dedicated bike lanes on Division (taking away lanes from cars, oh, the horror!), and the downtown stretch of Fulton is much, much livelier than that. Granted, the traffic counts are higher, but if we're going to play the "cars = space for cars" game we're going to lose every time.

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It's a matter of balance. Most people get around by car, so you can't just go ignoring cars everywhere. You still need to set aside some thoroughfares to be primary car routes; Fulton is one of those. If you look at a city like Tokyo, you'll see roads of varying tiers. There's highways which are car only, wide avenues which are primarily car with pedestrian crossings forcibly limited, ordinary roads in which car and pedestrian are equal, side streets which are more pedestrian heavy, and ped malls which are only pedestrian. Each one serves its role and purpose and contributes to the city. It's important to allow people to move about the city, but people use cars and those also need to move about the city. It's a matter of knowing which streets need to serve which purposes. Fulton is not one that should be shifted away from car use.

4 hours ago, Raildude's dad said:

According to google maps, it's backed up a little over half way to Leffingwell  right now.  Leonard Crahen will be open sometime next week  or maybe earlier. That will help a bit.

I crossed the EBL at about 7:40 this morning on Knapp.  Both SB lanes stop and go as far as I could see either direction. I was going to Lowell via Knapp to Pettis to M-21. The lady behind me followed me from Knapps Corner area  all the way to Lowell.

About halfway between Knapp and 3 Mile, sometimes all the way up to 3 Mile is where the backup reaches.

[54equalsunity]

As much as I dislike the government spending money on highway infrastructure, this project is pretty damn impressive.

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[GRDadof3]

On 7/30/2019 at 6:34 PM, 54equalsunity said:

As much as I dislike the government spending money on highway infrastructure, this project is pretty damn impressive.

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Hard to believe that a lot of the first phase of this work will be done soon, projected in August. I think the bridge over the Grand River is supposed to reopen in August. 

Next summer they switch the work in your picture to the other side. 

[GRDadof3]

I noticed today that the bridge deck on I-196 over the Grand River looks almost complete.  Would be nice to see that open again.  August 31st is supposed to be the date. 

[thebeerqueer]

On 8/3/2019 at 11:19 AM, GRDadof3 said:

I noticed today that the bridge deck on I-196 over the Grand River looks almost complete.  Would be nice to see that open again.  August 31st is supposed to be the date. 

All neighborhoods around east/west streets with bridges over the river are anxiously waiting for this project to be completed. 

[elcelc]

New bridge means new signs of course.

[wingbert]

Good thing our highways are being being upgraded to deal with 2013’s traffic situation....

GR Commuters Wasting More Time in Traffic

[GRDadof3]

August 30th the bridge over the Grand River reopens. I had forgotten this project has been going on in phases for 3 years.

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/mdot-i-196-project-wrapping-up-next-week/

[thebeerqueer]

I-196 construction between Grandville and Hudsonville has been extended, again, this time until 09/30/2019. Originally expected to finish 08/15/2019. 

[GR_Urbanist]

1 hour ago, thebeerqueer said:

I-196 construction between Grandville and Hudsonville has been extended, again, this time until 09/30/2019. Originally expected to finish 08/15/2019. 

This is the one project that irratates me the most

I have family out there, and there is zero way to exit the highway at Hudsonville, much to my annoyance. The first time I ventured there during construction I had to drive clear out to Holland twp. Before I could turn around!

And I was clueless navigating the surface streets of Grandville, and Jenison until recently! Some parts of their road network make no logical sense and the signage is poor when you are trying to find your way to a highway on ramp.