Mount Pleasant residents should not be surprised to hear south Mission Street is among the busiest and riskiest roads in the city.

It also is among the riskiest in the state.

The stretch of south Mission Street between Broomfield Street and Appian Way ranked tied for sixth on a recent list of Michigan’s riskiest road published by the Detroit Free Press, with 51 accidents in 2008.

Mount Pleasant Police Department Public Information Officer Dave Sabuda said the number provided to the Free Press was low, with police records indicating 78 accidents on the stretch of road last year. The Mount Pleasant post of the Michigan State Police does not keep track of accidents on south Mission, said State Trooper Chris Pietrantonio.

“There are consistently accidents down through there,” Sabuda said. “It’s just the nature of the traffic. You have cross-traffic and high volumes of traffic.”

Most accidents on that stretch are rear-end accidents. The tendency of traffic to back up at stoplights, combined with the fast pace, causes people to be a bit reckless, Sabuda said.

There have been 31 accidents on the stretch in 2009.

“Anticipate the traffic being backed up further than Broomfield and Mission,” Sabuda said. “People will look away for a second to switch lanes. You can anticipate a lot of cross-traffic, with people trying to exit businesses.”

View Michigan’s top 10 high-crash roads in a larger map
(Courtesy of Mark W. Smith/Detroit Free Press)

‘Area of concern’

The Mount Pleasant City Commission rejected a proposal from the Michigan Department of Transportation to place medians and force drivers to make Michigan lefts on Mission Street. The commission is meeting with MDOT next week, said Director of Public Works Duane Ellis.

“We do know that Mission is an area of concern,” he said. “We’re continuing to work with MDOT. It’s still in our plans and interests.”

The traffic helps local businesses on Mission, but it also can hinder their operations.

Lil’ Chef General Manager Jamie Martin said the turn lane backs up to the front of the restaurant at 1720 S. Mission St., making entering and leaving the lot an issue.

“It hurts us when traffic can’t make a left turn,” Martin said. “It’s hard to turn left anywhere in this area. It’s just a hassle sometimes.”

James Dysinger, manager of Tire Factory at 1810 S. Mission St., said he has watched traffic wait for 10 to 15 minutes to turn left across Mission Street.

“If they’re heading northbound on Mission, it’s hard for them to get across,” he said. “It’s just a busy road.”

Eight of the 10 riskiest roads are in metro Detroit. The other is in Kent County. Four other Mount Pleasant roads were among the top 100: south Mission Street between west Preston Road and east Bellows Street with 40 accidents, south Mission Street between east Campus Drive and east Broomfield Road with 38 accidents, south Mission Street between Fairfield Drive and east Preston Road with 34 accidents, and east Broomfield Road between south Mission Street and Evans Street with 32 accidents.

E-mail the author: Ryan Czachorski