Muskegon/Webster Turnback

[Larry Spataro]

Well, it's official. We voted tonight to award the contract to turn Muskegon Avenue and Webster Avenue back into two-way streets with on street parking between Ninth Street and Spring Street. The work should be done by the end of November.

[drinsema-sybenga]

As a neighbor and working on Downtown Development I think this will be a good change. It will also be very interesting to see how behaviors change. This is a pretty big shift and it will be interesting to see how people, property owners etc react.

[rightseat]

As a neighbor and working on Downtown Development I think this will be a good change. It will also be very interesting to see how behaviors change. This is a pretty big shift and it will be interesting to see how people, property owners etc react.

[Eridony]

It's about time! This should really make downtown a lot more pedestrian frendly in that area. The on street parking will buffer the sidewalks and slow down traffic.

[seagull4]

Bad idea- You are going from one way streets of four lanes down to two lanes on Shoreline Dr. The whole summer is made up of festivals at Heritage landing. 1,000's of people will be attempting to cross an extremely busy trunk line, let alone the cars that illegally stop to let people out of their cars. I hope it works. A solution may have to be a overwalk over Shoreline Dr.

[Larry Spataro]

Bad idea- You are going from one way streets of four lanes down to two lanes on Shoreline Dr. The whole summer is made up of festivals at Heritage landing. 1,000's of people will be attempting to cross an extremely busy trunk line, let alone the cars that illegally stop to let people out of their cars. I hope it works. A solution may have to be a overwalk over Shoreline Dr.

[seagull4]

We were at Itish Festival last night. You are not talking about one or two people crossing a four lane bypass to get to a library. Last night involved large crowds and at times cars stopping on the highway to let people cross. That is dangerous and needs to be addreseed before all traffic is directed over to Shoreline Dr. Crowds for Irish Fetival are small compared to Unity and Summer Celebration. When the crowds exit the Walker Arena, after the Hockey/football games, for the parking lots across Shoreline Dr law enforcement may be needed there as well. For now, it is,what it is,but that could be addressed. It may mean that at peak times law enforcement actually directs traffic and crowds similiar to what is done in downtown Grand Rapids for events at the Van Andel/DeVos Center.

[rightseat]

We were at Itish Festival last night. You are not talking about one or two people crossing a four lane bypass to get to a library. Last night involved large crowds and at times cars stopping on the highway to let people cross. That is dangerous and needs to be addreseed before all traffic is directed over to Shoreline Dr. Crowds for Irish Fetival are small compared to Unity and Summer Celebration. When the crowds exit the Walker Arena, after the Hockey/football games, for the parking lots across Shoreline Dr law enforcement may be needed there as well. For now, it is,what it is,but that could be addressed. It may mean that at peak times law enforcement actually directs traffic and crowds similiar to what is done in downtown Grand Rapids for events at the Van Andel/DeVos Center.

[Eridony]

Well today is the day, after years of waiting Muskegon and Webster are now two way streets with on street parking on both sides. Has anyone here traveled on them yet? Were there any reports of people ignoring the signs and the markings and driving on the wrong side of the street? It'll be a strange experiance when I get to travel down those streets in a direction I was never able to before.

[Larry Spataro]

Well today is the day, after years of waiting Muskegon and Webster are now two way streets with on street parking on both sides. Has anyone here traveled on them yet? Were there any reports of people ignoring the signs and the markings and driving on the wrong side of the street? It'll be a strange experiance when I get to travel down those streets in a direction I was never able to before.

[drinsema-sybenga]

I came into town today after a business trip and came down Apple, swerved onto First and then surveyed the strangest phenomenon. Cars going in both directions on Muskegon Avenue. It was crazy. I crossed Muskegon, and then Webster. The strangest feeling was that I felt like I had entered the mall site on the other side of Clay much earlier. It felt so completely different. Like there was just blocks and blocks of neighborhood streets!! I went back and forth on the cross streets a few times, but never actually went on Webster and Muskegon. I can't wait to give it a try though!

I saw only one car parked on Webster. Parked cars on both sides of the street seem to be the best strategy to slow down traffic.

Well today is the day, after years of waiting Muskegon and Webster are now two way streets with on street parking on both sides. Has anyone here traveled on them yet? Were there any reports of people ignoring the signs and the markings and driving on the wrong side of the street? It'll be a strange experiance when I get to travel down those streets in a direction I was never able to before.

[Eridony]

This weekend I got a chance to drive down the streets. On Thanksgiving I drove down Muskegon, and there was only one car parked on the side of the road. The next day I drove down Webster and there were maybe a half dozen cars parked on the side of the street near around 6th street. I'm sure we won't see alot of on-street parking for awhile since for decades all the offices and businesses there had to have off-street parking, but I bet it'll be interesting during the summer festivals to see those streets full of parked cars on both sides.