Sep. 19 -- TRAVERSE CITY -- A two-year pilot project that created two-way traffic on some downtown streets for the first time in more than 50 years is winding down as city officials near a decision on whether those changes should continue.
The city's Downtown Development Authority Board on Friday morning will discuss the city's Two-Way Circulation Pilot Project involving State and Pine streets downtown -- and a portion of Boardman Avenue -- implemented in November 2022. That followed a temporary shift to two-way traffic two years earlier when Front Street was closed to vehicle traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DDA meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Commission Chambers at the Governmental Center.
"In general, the two-way traffic conversion has been generally well received and is functional, but not without a handful of issues that have been more recently exacerbated by the reconstruction of Grandview Parkway," DDA Executive Director Harry Burkholder said in a memo to the DDA Board.
Burkholder said complaints received by the city ticked up during Phase 2 of the parkway reconstruction this summer between East Front and Division streets, specifically related to traffic flow on State Street and the lack of left-hand turn lanes at the Union and Cass street intersections, and traffic back-ups at the West Front and Pine Street intersection.
City staff has worked with traffic and engineering consultants from Progressive AE to monitor and evaluate the two-way street conversion. It included monitoring traffic movement at ten different intersections in and around the pilot area, along with pedestrian movement, bicycle traffic, traffic volume and vehicle speed, parking utilization and vehicle crashes. The data was collected over 24-hour periods from Thursdays through Sundays in early March, mid-May, late July and late October both this year and in 2023.
The trends showed average vehicle speeds on the involved streets were slightly lower, traffic volumes have been higher and eastbound vehicle counts are higher than west-bound travel. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic has also increased during the pilot, while the number of vehicle crashes decreased. Suzanne Schultz of Progressive will meet with the DDA Board to review and analyze the statistics.
"We've collected a lot of data," Burkholder said. "There's a lot to consider."
Burkholder said the city has three options going forward -- make the changes permanent with or without some additional modifications to the involved streets, convert the three streets back to one-way traffic, or continue the pilot project for another year with additional work at the key intersections. An additional year of the pilot would also give the city an opportunity to consider expanding the two-way traffic circulation to Front Street through the downtown core, Burkholder said. All of those options would require additional funding, which the DDA has included in its 2024-25 operating budget.
While the DDA has taken the lead on implementing and monitoring the two-way pilot, Burkholder noted that the City Commission has the final say on how it will proceed. He also said a city "Design Team" of department heads has not made a formal recommendation on moving forward. If the city were to extend the pilot for another year, city staff has already secured cost estimates to add left-hand turn arrows for westbound traffic at the State/Cass and State/Union intersections.
"We believe this potential modification will address some of the more immediate concerns and complaints related to traffic flow at those intersections," Burkholder wrote.
Other items on the DDA's Friday agenda include:
Consideration of a one-year contract totaling $42,000 with the Traverse Connect economic development organization to assist in various DDA support efforts including marketing for professional business attraction, talent recruitment and workforce development work, and supporting the DDA's tax increment financing (TIF) tool and its Moving Downtown Forward TIF plan.
* Review of a proposed one-year contract of up to $83,610 with the Rehmann accounting and business assistance firm for professional services including handling weekly accounts payable, employee tax forms and payroll tax returns, monthly credit card and banking transactions, posting journal entries, budgeting and budget forecasts and related accounting work.