The Chelsea Transportation Working Group heard an update on the survey that will be released next week to gain Chelsea resident’s opinions about the Chelsea POP temporary safety project that was implemented on several streets in the city this month.
Chelsea partnered with the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) for the project that officially launched Sept. 1 and includes traffic calming road markings on Freer Road, Railroad, McKinley and Dewey streets aimed at slowing vehicular traffic in key areas where pedestrians and bicyclists converge on the roads.
More information can be found at the project website at www.miwats.org/chelseapop.
Susann Flowers of WATS provided committee members with the preliminary survey for a discussion at the committee’s Sept. 24 Zoom meeting.
She thanked the Chelsea Department of Public Works for its efforts to paint the cross-walks as well as the Washtenaw County Road Commission for the message board. Drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians have probably seen the visible color enhancements at key intersections in addition to the “dynamic message board” on Freer Road. The new message board alerts motorists of the temporary bike lane, which narrows the road in an effort to slow motor vehicle traffic on the road that is shared with bicycle riders.
(It should be noted that the width of the bike lane was installed following all transportation safety protocols and regulations.)
The survey, which is expected to be released next week, has about 12 questions to gauge resident’s thoughts about the temporary project to increase awareness of shared roads and increase safety within the city.
The initial plan is to keep the survey available for responses for 30 days.
Committee members who live in Chelsea said that they’d observed vehicular traffic slowing in the areas where the bike lane was added. They also said that they’ve received feedback to expand the project in the future to include adding Washington Street and other long, straight roads in the city such as Middle and Wilkinson where there is pedestrian and bicycle activity.
The city has been working on efforts to increase both walkability and bikeability while increasing safety measures, which is included in not only the city’s Master Plan but also in the city’s Parks and Recreation plan.
From what I see, as a N. Freer resident, it has slowed down traffic on N. Freer very little. Drivers still take off from the stop sign, at A. D. Mayer and N. Freer, and get up to 40-45 mph by the time they reach Railroad St.