MUSKEGON, Mich. — The City of Muskegon has completed its data-gathering for the second phase of the "road diet" study on Shoreline Drive.
For over two months, Shoreline Drive (US-31) had one lane in each direction closed to determine if these additional lanes were needed.
The city completed the first phase of the study in the fall of 2022.
This latest road diet study was implemented so the city could gather additional information about travel times during the summer, which is a busier time of year.
The information gathered from the road diet study will be used to determine if the city will consider reducing Shoreline Drive to just a single lane in each direction.
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."
Results of the first study showed that the average delay on Shoreline during the road diet was just five 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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