GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Crossing Michigan Street in Grand Rapids has started to feel like a game of Frogger, and now the city is working to change that.
WATCH: Grand Rapids plans to add pedestrian beacons to busy Michigan Street crossings
The Michigan Street Corridor Improvement Authority announced plans to commit up to $75,000 to build upon a grant-funded initiative with the City's Mobile GR Department that will install high-visibility flashing beacons at two intersections along Michigan Street. One will go in at Houseman Avenue, and the other will be installed at Grand Avenue.
The owner of Midtowne Smoke Shop, Jacob Heminger said the growth and added foot traffic along Michigan Street has been great for business, but has made getting to the businesses more challenging.
"It's a busy street. It's hard to cross. You really have to time it perfectly. And if you're not able to do that, you're gonna get hit," Jacob Heminger said.
Heminger, the owner of Midtowne Smoke Shop, said the mix of nearby nightlife and heavy traffic adds to the danger.
"You got all these bars here. So bars mixed with drinking. So you're gonna have a bunch of drunk people walking back and forth across one of the busiest streets in downtown…Not a good mix," Heminger said.
Just a few hundred feet from the Houseman Avenue location, Paul Faba at Pauly's Wine Experience said the beacons are necessary.
"It's a heavily traversed intersection because we have a lot of additional parking. So you do have a lot of people parking here and then walking up and down the strip," Faba said.
Heminger told me that in his four years of business near the intersection, he's seen people get hit, along with a number of near misses.
"I've seen so many people have to stomp on their brakes, honk their horns for people walking. I've seen many people almost come close to death because they are not looking both ways," Heminger said.
The investment directly builds upon a grant-funded initiative led by the city's Mobile GR Department. To maximize the impact of the grant, the MSCIA board allocated funds to integrate additional street-level safety elements into the project footprint. Their contribution will add curb extensions, which will shorten the crossings and increase visibility.
This milestone is part of a broader effort by the City of Grand Rapids Economic Development Department to take a more strategic, proactive role in supporting local corridor improvement authorities.
Work on the new safety beacons is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks. The city expects them to be up and running by Thanksgiving.
"It's encouraging to see that city is taking steps to do the responsible thing here," Faba said.
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