Help us oppose the widening of US-23!

[Adam Goodman]

Hey all,

The Michigan Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is studying the widening of US-23 in Ann Arbor in a project which includes three expansion alternatives. Expanding freeway capacity with any of these alternatives will worsen air and noise pollution, expand carbon emissions, and further commit our community to an auto-centric development pattern which runs counter to our local and state goals. It’s proven that new lanes do not “fix” congestion - people just drive more and land uses sprawl.

For our community to meet its transportation safety and climate-action goals, all three of these alternatives must be rejected.

A few of us are starting a campaign to oppose this expansion: https://trainsnotlanes.org. Some immediate steps you can take to get involved are:

1. Sign the change.org petition - we'll be using the petition as our main mailing list, and to demonstrate our support.
2. Attend the next MDOT public open house for this project, which is coming up THIS THURSDAY, February 1! It will be Noon to 2 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m., at the Morris Lawrence Building, Washtenaw Community College
3. If you can't attend, send comments into the project website form and mapping feedback tool.

We'll be sharing more actions soon, e.g. contacting local elected officials. That said, it's worth noting that the Ann Arbor City Council already passed a resolution against widening US-23!

(Also, the 2/1 MDOT public open house will include a second project study, looking at improvements to Washtenaw Ave east of Carpenter. I'd encourage everyone to weigh in on that as well - in particular, in support of Alternative B, which would include [semi-]dedicated bus lanes! See https://washtenawpel.com for more details.)

- Adam

[Adam Goodman]

Quick correction re: the Washtenaw study - I meant to say "Alternative C - Business Access Transit Lanes" is the one to support.

- Adam

[Matt Catanzarite]

Thanks to Your Action, MDOT is Rethinking its Strategy for the US-23 Widening Project

Thanks to the efforts of our membership and related organizations including Trains Not Lanes, MDOT has dropped all 3 expansion alternative for US-23!
The victory also garnered national attention with the following article.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/06/10/a-petition-a-website-and-a-t-shirt-ann-arbor-advocates-share-tips-for-canceling-highway-expansions

Local media coverage via MLIVE - https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/05/highway-expansion-options-cut-from-big-us-23-project-in-ann-arbor.html

Matt