Traffic plan in place for 4-month lane closure on Ann Arbor's South Main Street
Drivers who regularly commute south on Main Street in Ann Arbor may want to find an alternate route come spring.
City officials have finalized a traffic plan that will go into effect when a portion of South Main Street outside the Big House is closed for four months, starting March 15. The plan is to maintain two lanes of northbound traffic and one lane of southbound traffic - meaning one less southbound lane for the daily rush-hour exodus.
"We could see some traffic backup for a short period of time until motorists get used to the idea that one of the lanes is closed, and people find alternative routes," said Homayoon Pirooz, manager of the city's project management unit. "With that scheme, I suppose traffic in the morning will not be impacted, and afternoon traffic will be heavier in that general area."
One lane on South Main Street will be closed for four months starting March 15 as the University of Michigan finishes brick work outside the Big House.
The extended lane closure comes as the University of Michigan puts the finishing touches on a $226 million renovation of its football stadium.
The city approved an application submitted on the university's behalf by the Barton Malow Co. to close the easternmost lane of Main Street between Synder and Keech - about a 1,000-foot stretch of public roadway just north of Stadium Boulevard.
The lane closure is intended to eliminate any hazards to passing vehicles while brick work on the 90-foot-high stadium wall running along the edge of Main Street is finished. The city is asking the university to complete the work in time to reopen all lanes of traffic for the four-day Ann Arbor Art Fairs in July.
Jim Kosteva, U-M's director of community relations, said he doesn't think the lane closure will be as big of a headache as some people may think.
"We are working in close cooperation with the city and their traffic engineers," he said. "We have had the lane closed on a temporary basis a couple of times throughout the construction of the stadium, and that has not presented an inordinate problem."
Kosteva said there will be ample notification and signage to give motorists a chance to look for alternative routes.
Pirooz said though it's technically one of the northbound lanes that will be closed, traffic is being shifted so that two northbound lanes will remain open, along with one southbound lane and a left-turn lane.
Because the street will not be completely closed in either direction, no official detour routes are being established. But Pirooz said he suspects many visitors to downtown may want to use South State Street to get to I-94 and other points south for a while.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.
Comments
Tim
Sun, Jan 3, 2010 : 6:20 p.m.
A quarter of a billion dollars for that ugly (and poorly thought out) addition? Stunning. I have to ask how much medical research or anything of an actual societal bebefit a QUARTER of a BILLION DOLLARS could buy? Seems a ridiculous misappropriation of funds to me.
Ralph
Sat, Jan 2, 2010 : 11:21 a.m.
Architecture only Albert Speer could love!
Yenrab
Sat, Jan 2, 2010 : 9:38 a.m.
There once was a spokesman named Jim, His knowledge of traffic seemed slim Townies they yelled at Kosteva Traffic jams are all that you leave us! Might be forgiven if your team would just win This stretch of road is a nightly nightmare already. The traffic back up is bumper to bumper from Stadium back to Madison.After you get past Stadium it is no picnic either. If there were good alternative routes they would be or already are in use. Mr. Kosteva can give all the advance notice he wants and it is not going to help one way or they other. I suggest he sit in this 4:50 to 6:15 mess for the next month and see if he might re-think any of this.
bruno_uno
Sat, Jan 2, 2010 : 9:19 a.m.
can they put this traffic plan in effect during football season as well? I cant see 100,000 pedestrians walking along that narrow sidewalk and not overflowing on to the street.
treetowncartel
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 11:10 p.m.
Oh man, this is going to efect my commute. I'll just get a big plane once the airport is done to comtat it.
bg
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 6:50 p.m.
I too have lived in a city where the center lane changes with the traffic flow - this is far too sophisticated. The U should pay for the management and control of traffic during construction (and stand at the intersection at 5:30 pm) to see whether "ample notification" is really the answer.
AAbornandraised
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 6:36 p.m.
I especially like the idea of changing the middle lane depending on time of day. This makes the most sense to me. Great idea, rcastentman. Traffic heading south at the end of the workday is two solid lanes of traffic anyway. Can't the city planners be a bit more creative to deal with this problem. This seems like the best of both worlds. If not, then why not leave the two southbound lanes alone and make just one NORTHbound lane?
markguy
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 5:45 p.m.
The article has to be wrong. No one that has ever driven through this intersection during rush hour would do this! Do the city officials making these decisions even drive on our streets? At 5:30pm the southbound stretch of Main from Pauline to Stadium is two solid lanes of cars. Never mind the confusion from taking a lane and turning it around. Where does the second lane disappear headed south? Does the right lane get forced onto Pauline? That merge should guarantee a mess all the way into downtown. This is stupid. (Of course these are the same clowns that stood by and watched the Stadium bridge over State St. start crumbling, all the while having a report in hand that it needed to be replaced. Never fear, that will be fixed in late 2011.)
texorama
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 5:30 p.m.
Until very recently, the inbound side was only one lane after you crossed Stadium. There were few problems--the morning rush hour is more spread out. Wonder why they're doing it the other way. I wouldn't want to live on Seventh or its feeder streets while this is going on.
Jon Saalberg
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 4:05 p.m.
Jim Kosteva, U-M's director of community relations, said he doesn't think the lane closure will be as big of a headache as some people may think. Yeah. I wonder if Mr. Kosteva has even a passing familiarity with the nightmare that is southbound Main Street at rush hour. But then again, what U-M wants, it gets.
Corey Seeman
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 2:57 p.m.
Beware the Ides of March!
zags
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 11:14 a.m.
Considering the difficulty that our area drivers (naysayers) seem to have with the simple concept of a traffic circle, a traffic lane that switches directions twice a day would no doubt spark a complete meltdown of civil society. Or at least another citizen opposition group writing petitions to City Hall.
RU4A2
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 10:27 a.m.
Does the U of M have to pay the city for the inconvenience, traffic signs, etc for the lane closures? What about the Stadium bridge. That is a direct route to U of M events at the stadium or Chysler arena. Wheres U of Ms help with that. Another way the U of M screws the residents here.
norainnorainbow
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 9:45 a.m.
Oh wow. This is going to suck. The traffic in this area is already bad when I'm leaving work at 5:30 pm. All for a visually atrocious addition to the football stadium.
zollar
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 9:42 a.m.
The City of Ann Arbor Traffic Signals Dept already has the temp. traffic lights you are talking about because they have used them on other projects.Thats a fact.
rcastentman
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 9:32 a.m.
Seems to me a little creativity could make this a non-issue? I've been to several cities where the center lane (of 3 lanes) is used to handle traffic in opposite directions depending on the time of day. In this case, the center lane could be used for northbound traffic in the morning and southbound after 4pm or so. It's all done with control lights. And after a couple of days, people figure it out....and it'll sure beat having all those southbound cars running through the neighborhoods as people look for shortcuts.
zollar
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 8:46 a.m.
I've got this eerie feeling if Fire Dept personal/response times get below a unsafe and unacceptable levels, the University may then create their own fire brigades as they did their own Public Safety dept.
A Pretty Ann Arbor
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 7:25 a.m.
This is a bad intersection/area of town to begin with...this will only make things worse. Not looking forward to this at all since I live near there. Hope the city is getting lots of cash for this and will use it to keep our fire/police intact.
zollar
Fri, Jan 1, 2010 : 7:06 a.m.
Can't wait for this thing to be completed and look forward to the BIG open HOUSE for us locals.