Route Ypsilanti Happening This Summer
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Building upon the success of the Chelsea Pop project in 2020, WATS is partnering with the City of Ypsilanti and St. Joe’s Ann Arbor to bring Route Ypsilanti. This project is focused on traffic calming to improve access to health care through safe, reliable transportation as well as improve the health of the local community through a commitment to the built environment. There are four roadway segments that are part of this project:
N. Prospect Street - Cross to City Limits
N. Mansfield Street - Washtenaw to S. Congress
E. Cross Street - Prospect to N. River St.
2nd. Avenue - W. Michigan Ave. to Monroe Ave.
Public input took place during the month of May to gauge the level of support for design concepts that were proposed by the City and WATS staff. One virtual input meeting and three in person meetings were held. Through the partnership with St. Joe’s Ann Arbor, the in-person meetings were also paired with COVID-19 vaccine clinics.
As part of the public input process, a survey was created that was made available online and mailed to all residents along the project corridors. Over 140 surveys were collected from the Ypsilanti community. The survey results can be found here. There has been positive support for the design ideas that were proposed. A brief summary of the treatments that are being implemented are provided below.
Prospect St.
Support for sharrows, gateway treatments, curb extensions and bike boxes were positively supported by 70% or more.
2nd St.
Support for striping the on-street parking and striping the crosswalk along with curb extensions at Michigan Ave were positively supported by 60% or more.
There was not strong support for the mini-roundabout concept proposed at Monroe and the design concept will not be implemented.
Cross St.
Support for a bike box, sharrows, gateway treatments, curb extensions, and wayfinding signs were positively supported by 70% or more.
Mansfield St.
Support for crosswalks and striped curb extensions, mini-roundabouts, sharrows, gateway treatments, and wayfinding signs were positively supported.
Next steps for the project include the City of Ypsilanti deploying the design concepts and WATS staff working with the City to put out educational and wayfinding signs. There will be one final survey developed at the end of the project to gauge people’s thoughts on this project, that survey will be coming out later this summer.
For more information about Route Ypsilanti, please visit the project website at miwats.org/route-ypsilanti.
