As part of the 2021 Healthy Streets program, the City temporarily reconfigured South Main Street between Packard and Stadium Blvd, and is now evaluating how the pilot has performed to determine if the configuration could be made permanent.
On March 1, 2022 the City opened up a public survey to hear from those who have used this area of South Main Street as they walk, bike or drive. This survey will close on Tuesday March 21, 2022 at 5 PM.
More information about the reconfiguration is here:
https://www.a2gov.org/departments/engineering/Pages/South-Main-Street-Reconfiguration.aspx
A 7 minute video produced by the City about the reconfiguration is here:
The survey is available here:
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=haWvSHVjcEG50enFaLuS88EgWZ7f2NNNg_BI1E0qqclUMUJJWUVRUktEUkJPQURFTzlGMTRXU0NBRC4u
I wrote about the Healthy Street 2021 program back in May 2021:
https://www.a2elnel.com/post/healthy-streets-2021
From the survey:
As part of the 2021 Healthy Streets program, the City of Ann Arbor reconfigured S. Main St. between Packard St. and Stadium Blvd, with changes occurring in September 2021. While this portion of the 2021 Healthy Streets project was installed on a temporary basis in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city is evaluating how the pilot has performed to determine if the pilot configuration could be made permanent, as it fulfills identified goals in the Ann Arbor Moving Together Towards Vision Zero transportation plan as well as the A2Zero carbon neutrality plan. These goals include expanding the All Ages and Abilities bicycling network and advancing A2Zero’s policy goal of a 50% reduction in vehicle miles traveled.
Prior to this pilot project, S. Main had 2 vehicle travel lanes in each direction and no dedicated bicycle facilities. As part of the pilot project’s reconfiguration, S. Main now has 1 vehicle travel lane in each direction, a two-way left-turn lane, and a buffered bicycle lane in each direction. Vertical elements to separate the vehicle and bicycle lanes were also installed as part of the pilot but have since been removed for winter maintenance needs.
The pilot configuration has been observed to increase the safety of travel along the corridor by reducing dangerous behaviors such as excessive speeding and lane-switching, as well as the safety for pedestrians/bicyclists crossing S. Main, particularly at 4 uncontrolled crosswalk locations (Mosley, Davis, Hoover, Keech). The most notable tradeoff is an increased travel time for vehicles.