Mount Pleasant focuses on making Mission Street business friendly

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Mission Street has long been associated with high volumes of traffic and accidents in Mount Pleasant, but steps to revamp the road have already begun.

Jeff Gray, Mount Pleasant’s director of Planning and Community Development, said the main problem plaguing Mission varies widely depending on who you ask.

For the city, the main concern is making sure the street stays a viable business corridor for business owners and people who shop there, as well as the people who live in that sector of the community, he said.

But whatever problems Mission itself incurs, the solutions are ultimately left to the Michigan Department of Transportation, since it is a state highway.

“The city obviously has no jurisdiction of the street itself so our influence is primarily the sides of the street,” Gray said.

Mount Pleasant has been working with businesses along Mission to increase accessibility. The city has new ordinances for development along Mission which allow for businesses to be closer to street, like the newly-renovated Taco Bell, 1143 S. Mission St.

The new Taco Bell was also granted easements and the ability to make future connections with businesses that build next to it in the future.

“The city has to focus on what we can control,” Gray said. “We’ve been working on connections with businesses to avoid going out on the street.”

Such projects are opportunity-based and not all businesses can use this option. The site plans have to be approved and neighboring properties have to agree to work together.

Gray said First Bank, 2013 S. Mission St., upgraded its existing facility and the new driveway was built to connect to the local shopping plaza.

“The DDA has the funds for combining driveways along Mission if there is an access way behind it,” said Gray. “With First Bank, we had the funds to provide.”

A safer road

Mount Pleasant is also very concerned with making Mission Street pedestrian-friendly.

By moving new businesses closer to the street, it is hoping to give drivers a cue to slow down, but in the end, speeds are a decision made by MDOT, Gray said.

“When the speed limit on Mission changed to 45, we were opposed to it, but we had no authority to say anything,” said City Manager Kathie Grinzinger.

The speed limit change along the southern stretch of Mission was met with some negative reception from community members.

The city does have a say on approval if it is asked to match funds or for specific things.

In 2009, there was a plan to put in a boulevard from Broomfield Street to Bluegrass Road, forcing drivers to make indirect left-hand turns, or “Michigan lefts.” The new street design would have addressed accidents that occur during direct left-hand turns at intersections.

But businesses were concerned with whether people would frequent their establishment if they had to drive past and turn around to get to it, Gray said.

The City Commission elected to not send the local share of funds that was needed for the project and MDOT did not proceed with the project.

“In the end we turned down the $4 million grant,” Grinzinger said. “MDOT supplies very specific design options and the options available to us were just unacceptable to businesses, residents, and City Commission.”

Police presence

According to the 2009 annual report released by the Mount Pleasant Police Department on the city’s website, there were 177 accidents at the Mission Street intersections of Broomfield Street, Preston Avenue, Bellows Street, Appian Way and High Street.

MPPD Public Information Officer Jeff Browne has seen the benefits of the collected information. A shift will go down and work for a certain amount of time to correct behaviors seen at these intersections, Browne said.

Another method for Mission Street’s improvement is a grant the police station received last fall from the Office of Highway Safety Planning.

“The $74,428 grant was to get everyone in the county on the same computer system,” Browne said. “The benefits are to get data to the state of Michigan faster, to process data and track problems in more real time.”

This way the state will not have to wait until the end of the year to begin analyzing accident and citation data in specific areas such as Mission Street intersections, he said.

MDOT has construction scheduled for Mission Street in 2011. It plans to resurface, repaint and narrow the driving lanes slightly, Grinzinger said.

Specific attention will be paid to pedestrian-friendly crosswalks along with the streets.

Mount Pleasant will contribute $13,200 to repainting and upgrading the crosswalks. The crosswalks will be much larger and will have thermoplastic inlays for improved visibility.