Union Township hires firm to plan sidewalk, bike path additions

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People looking to use cars less in favor of walking or biking will start to find new sidewalks and bike lanes around the community.

Union Township has hired a consultant from Greenway Collaborative Inc., a street and sidewalk consultation service based in Ann Arbor, to develop a draft suggesting how and where to add sidewalks and bike paths.

In Greenway’s drafted plan, President Norm Cox said 25 miles of bike lanes could be added on major roadways, and simple conversion lanes is the answer to making that happen.

“I’ve never seen this level of cooperation for a project,” Cox said. “The project was really driven by public input, with 500 residents answering our survey online.”

The walkable community has been a collaborative effort between Union Township, Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan University, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and Isabella county.

“What we saw was that some elements were already in place, and our project plans still had some holes,” said Union Township Supervisor John Barker. “We needed someone who knows more about such things to pull it all together into a meaningful whole for the entire Mount Pleasant area, and that is when we proposed hiring a firm who has already done that work.”

Barker said he agreed to have Union Township be the fiduciary for the joint effort. The board then approved the two-percent request for $50,000 to hire a consultant to put together a Non-Motorized Transportation Plan for the entire area, he said.

Barker said the city, university and the tribe have already been working on some parts of the construction and residents will notice more and more sidewalks being built.

He said the township staff has been preparing a sidewalk construction plan for primary roads and construction on those sidewalks could begin next spring.

“We now realize that complete streets make a lot of sense, both to save energy and for healthier life styles in our community,” Barker said. “We now know that our new economy demands more than just water, sewer and roads, but also other ways to travel, including walking, biking, rollerblading and skateboards. Activities such as jogging are not safe as well on our township’s roads.”