🚨 Action alert: North Main St "Open House" Tuesday @ DDA 🚨 "Drop-Ins" Weds/Thurs

[Kirk Westphal]

1. Attend the open house Tuesday (5:30-7:30pm, presentation 6:15pm) at the DDA in Kerrytown and one of the Weds/Thurs Drop-In sessions. Register your thoughts in writing at these events!
   
2. Take the North Main St survey at the "Survey" tab here by March 20.
   

From the city website:

Public Open House

Tuesday, March 10 | 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Presentation at 6:15 p.m.

Location: DDA Office, 415 N. Fifth Ave., Second Floor

Learn about the project and share your ideas for North Main Street. Attendees can:

• Ask questions of the project team
• Review information about current corridor conditions
• Share what works well — and what needs improvement
• Help shape priorities for the next phase of the project

Open Studio Drop-In Sessions

Wednesday, March 11 | 2–5 p.m.

Thursday, March 12 | 1–3:30 p.m.

Location: DDA Office, 415 N. Fifth Ave., Second Floor

Stop by to speak directly with the planning team, review materials and provide feedback at a time that works for you.

Why is this project being done? 

• The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is planning a reconstruction project on N. Main St. (US-23 BR) in 2030 or after, from Huron St. to the ramps of M-14. 
• North Main Street is an important freeway connection for the more than 80,000 commuters to Ann Arbor, that leads directly into the heart of the city. The abrupt departure from the high-speed interstate design promotes speeding, poor safety outcomes for vulnerable road users and leads to dangerous driving behaviors. As a primary entry point into the city and Downtown, North Main Street should be a welcoming gateway.
• This corridor is considered a city priority safety location (Tier 2) given the number and severity of crashes. Drivers exiting the interstate system and entering the city currently engage in behaviors that contribute to the poor safety outcomes. The corridor should provide clear design cues that encourage lower speeds and greater awareness of people biking and walking, supporting safer driving behavior in a multimodal environment.

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My take?

In the interest of safety and robust walking and biking infrastructure, we must advocate for a successful North Main outcome just as strongly as we advocate for safety in the separate "A2R2" arterial redesign process. 

(Toole Design, the consultant on this project, is also working with the city on concepts for the other dangerous multilane arterials — ones that are actually owned by the city. This is the "Ann Arbor Roadway Rightsizing" aka "A2R2" project that is underway. I do not know if the same consultant team is working on the N Main study.) 

Regardless, as I've shared before, many are concerned because: 

1. Toole Design's rhetoric in a public meeting about A2R2 made it clear that their approach is not based at all on our Vision Zero policies. It's as if they're talking to an Ann Arbor of the year 2013, pre-Vision Zero.
   
2. City staff have alarmingly publicly abdicated responsibility on multiple occasions for solving traffic injuries.
   
3. Our councilmembers have taken no corrective actions (publicly) to retract these statements or direct staff to take responsibility.
   

This all points to a critical need to watch these processes to ensure the consultant and city are actually following our adopted Vision Zero policy — because we are clearly on the wrong track.

What would a "Vision Zero" North Main look like?

Our adopted Vision Zero policy means that everything we do must be guided by the belief that nobody should die or be seriously injured by our road designs (see new Vision Zero primer by Neighborhood Institute just dropped on TikTok and YouTube!). This means forcing car speeds to nonlethal levels at all conflict points. Personally, I cannot envision how car speeds can be safe when there's more than one car travel lane in either direction. So to me, a safe North Main is one car lane in each direction, with protected bike lanes, wide sidewalks, and multiple raised crosswalks and roundabouts for the length of the segment. 

What is your vision?

Read the attached article on Vision Zero if you haven't already — highly recommended.