Today there is an article in the online LSJ about this new traffic rotary. I seems like the are expecting large increases in traffic around the hospital, which I guess will happen. Traffic circles can be safer, but also they can be confusing, and kind of scary if drivers don't know how to drive through them. There used to be a rotary at the mainland end of the Sagamore Bridge[on Cape Cod] that was a really death defying maneuver to get around but I did learn how to do it and lived to tell. It seems like this big expensive project is a over doing it, I would have sooner seen the money spent for a better separated pedestrian /bike trail and just create a safer intersection with traffic lights, they never ask me about these plans!
I think there's just been a lack of education about how traffic circles work, there's really only one rule: yield to traffic in the circle. Once you get used to them they're great.
Seems to be the discussion every time one of these are added, but we've had them in Lansing for years. They reduce crashes and the severity of crashes and slows down traffic without stopping it on moderately busy roads. More effective/safer than a intersection protected by signs, but cheaper than controlling the intersection with lights.
Anyway, I was heartened by this part, though there numbers are vastly different than what I'd originally been told:
Lansing plans to cut down 67 trees to make way for the bike path and road project. The majority of the trees, approximately 55 of them, will be replaced, Kilpatrick said.
I do not see why the city is adding a separated path along forest road where there is less traffic and lower speed limits and then installing a bike lane on collins which has more traffic and higher speeds. It is counterintuitive and not useful for people who want to ride their bike. The trees are an issue that will take a decade or more to fix as new ones are established and mature. The whole hospital building and planning around this intersection has been non-communicated to the neighborhood in a timely manner and missed a lot of opportunities from my perspective.
I agree that the trees often get the "cut first talk later" treatment. I guess that attitude comes from the idea that we have so many trees who it going to miss a few we cut down? Mature trees are so much better for the environment just by the fact that they are larger than the little stick trees that they are replaced with. Most people would not miss these trees and enjoy driving on the new road, our environment and wildlife will miss them. I think we could have a more holistic approach to infrastructure that values and protects our urban forest, and perhaps invest some money and effort in saving more large mature trees that help our city breath and make our city beautiful.
I agree on the trees mostly, but I will say that there were a few very large trees that were surprisingly close to the road. There is still one holdout that hasn't been cut down yet but I can't see it surviving the widening of Collins Rd. Hard to tell distance while driving but I'd guess that it's only 3 to 5 feet off the current edge of the road. Not sure why it wasn't taken down with the smaller ones that were further away from the road.
Lansing is looking to amend it's 425 Act land-swap agreement with DeWitt Township to add 34 acres at the NW corner of MLK and Sheridan to the exist Act 425 area. Apparently, Emergent BioSolutions - which is kitty corner to the site - wants to eventually build a 180,000 manufacturing building expansion. Including them in the existing airport 425 allows them to seek certain grants and incentives and such that they would not otherwise have if the land stayed in the township.
It's very good to hear that Emergent will be making a fairly significant addition to their facilities in Lansing, I wonder if this plan is even remotely near happening? I'm assuming the document that came from gave no further details?
I noticed that they are renovating the west façade of the old warehouse/pot grow house on Kalamazoo and Hosmer, and I believe that the building being renovated across from Art's Pub is also a grow house as there are co-2[?] signs above the doors. The really big grow house up the street [the wing] is still under construction, they may not have gotten around to it yet, but they have not replaced any windows above the ground floor many of which are broken. I have noticed the price of marijuana has come down as all the big grow houses are now producing product, so a really nice 1/8ths are now $25-35 dollars.
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Anyway, I was heartened by this part, though there numbers are vastly different than what I'd originally been told: