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Muskegon 'road diet' underway on Shoreline Drive

As part of the study, traffic control devices will again be installed in order to eliminate one lane going in each direction.

MUSKEGON, Mich. — Phase Two of Muskegon's Shoreline Drive Pilot Project is underway.

Phase one occurred last fall when they reduced lanes on the four-lane Business U.S. 31/Shoreline Drive for six weeks. Along with the lane reduction, they also had regularly scheduled maintenance from Seventh Street to Terrace Street.

After the conclusion of the study last year, during a time of year with less events and tourists in town, they decided to conduct the second phase during the summer of 2023 when the downtown area would be busier.

As part of the study, traffic control devices will again be installed in order to eliminate one lane going in each direction.

The lane reductions will leave room for public space, that space will be tested for landscaped plantings, public art and community gathering areas. Using the results of both phases of the project, the City's consultant will make recommendations to City officials later this year.

The City of Muskegon listed a few reasons why they're interested in discovering better uses for Shoreline Drive in an article on their website. The reasons are:

  1. Connecting Downtown Neighborhoods and Muskegon Lake | Testing a project that slows traffic by limiting cars to one lane in each direction. Two goals of the project are to create a safer, more people-friendly roadway and to connect the Muskegon Lake waterfront to our downtown and neighborhoods. Additional benefits include better opportunities for development and park-like green space along this corridor.
  2. We often hear the argument, "there's nothing by the lake to connect to!" Walkable locations on the Muskegon Lake side of Shoreline Drive include Shoreline Inn, Hartshorn Marina, Terrace Point Marina, Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore, Neal Fitness Center, The Lake House Waterfront Grille and Event Center, Aqua Star Cruises, Cruise and Tall Ship Docks, LST Maritime Museum, Pigeon Hill Brewer's Lounge, Heritage Landing, Bike Trail, Dog Park, GVSU Annis Water Resources Institute, Kayak Launch, Terrace Point Landing, Viridian Shores, and more.
  3. Increasing Safety | Shoreline Drive from Southern Avenue to Terrace Street carries from 12,000 to 20,000 vehicles a day at speeds 45 mph and higher. In the last 5 years, almost ¼ of crashes in the city where a person walking was killed or seriously injured happened in this area. In the last 10 years, 8 of 30 total crashes where a person was killed within the City occurred on this roadway.
  4. Addressing Social Inequities | Muskegon, like many urban areas, has a legacy of redlining, highways, urban renewal projects, and continues to face their ongoing effects on marginalized populations. Today, urban highways are commonly known to have led to disinvestment in core cities, accelerated suburbanization, and caused damage to their immediate surroundings. Watch a brief video about redlining here. Watch the 5/9/2022 commission video to learn more about the history of Business Route US-31.
  5. Fiscal Responsibility | To put it simply, the larger the street the more expensive it is to maintain. Reduction of the size of the street would also reduce the cost of pavement repair and replacement, underground stormwater management infrastructure, snow removal, traffic signal operations, and policing.

Shoreline Drive is maintained by the City but owned by the State of Michigan, the city said that they've sought to have permanent control of the roadway for years. The goal of getting that control was to do a project like this in order to "make it safer for motorists and pedestrians visiting the downtown area and Muskegon Lake waterfront."

MDOT has offered the City the opportunity to engage the community of Muskegon to reimagine what Shoreline Drive could look like in advance of MDOT's transportation planning process, in which they are updating roads throughout the state.

Results of the first study showed that the average delay on Shoreline during the road diet was just 5 seconds of additional delay, the highest additional delay was 20 seconds.

Speed was reduced by 3-7 MPH and there was no consistent substantial change in traffic volume on Muskegon and Webster.

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