Looking at the parcel map the easiest place to see the ROW's width is where it goes by Prudden Place, it seems the ROW extends from the edge of the carports to the existing RR tracks, maybe 40' wide. It looks like it gets narrower at Oakland where it may end and be just the RR ROW. (I'm depending on Zillow's parcel map because the one the city links to isn't working for me.)
...On the subject of trails while I'm thinking about it: The Holt to Mason connector is now under construction as part of Ingham County's Cedar St reconstruction. The entire pathway all the way to the Hayhoe Trail is fully funded, the part under construction this year will extend from the Valhalla Trail's southern end to College Rd along the east side of Cedar St. The remaining section of the trail is partially funded by a Federal grant with the County paying for the rest, it will go from College Rd, across 127 via a new pedestrian bridge next to Howell Rd and connect to the Hayhoe trail at Kerns & Howell roads. No word on timeline there but I'd guess next year is likely.
This will add 3.7 miles of new trail while connecting to the existing 3.3 mile Hayhoe trail and 1 mile Esker trail, which just needs about one block of path along Holt Rd to connect to the Valhalla Trail which connects to the main trail system. Besides that 1/4 mile gap you will now be able to start as far away as Turner Dodge, Moores Park, Waverly near Jolly, or Lake Lansing Park and go all the way to Mason (or anywhere between) almost entirely away from roads and rarely crossing one at grade. The Rivertrail network should break 50 miles of contiguous paved trails next year or 2025, not including the many disconnected pathways some of which are multiple miles long themselves.
There is an artical about the reconfiguration of East Michigan Ave in the weeks City Pulse. I would like to see a better depiction of the plan; it was hard to get excited about the project with the basic drawing they published. Wider sidewalks and more trees, sounds good.
I haven't seen any details on the aesthetic bits of the project but I'm a big fan of the slightly wider sidewalks, proper separated bike lanes and the curb bump outs at crosswalks, I'm slightly confused by the asymmetric lane configuration but I don't have any complaints either. I expect the ROW will probably be brick pavers similar to Michigan west of Penn and I hope that the upgraded traffic lights are on fixed poles, besides that I can't think of any more personal wish-list items from me.
EDIT: After looking at the more detailed construction plans on the city's website I see that the traffic lights will unfortunately be on wires and I can't see anywhere that it specifies what materials will be used to pave the ROW. One positive thing that I do see that they are including planting boxes in addition to the trees all along the street, that should be a nice touch as long as they're maintained.
Thanks for all the information, I wonder if repaving the rest of E Michigan is planned as part of the Red Cedar project. It looks like this project will end at Clippert St.
Being as how it's a state route I can't imagine the city would have an easy time getting that done. I would personally rather see that money invested into the N East pathway that's set to run along the nearby parallel RR tracks, go behind the Wood St landfill then split to connect both to Granger Meadows and to Coleman & Wood where it will tie into East Lansing's Northern Tier Trail. If Larch develops as I'd expect it to having on-street parking would be a positive, it'd be a lot better if they add the curb bump outs at corners and pedestrian crossings whenever the street gets redone.
MichMatters - Not to be jaded but my thoughts about Cedar-Larch-Oakland-Saginaw just disappear into the void. But I asked internally. Public Service said it looks feasible so I am going to try to broach it with MDOT. I wish there was a more consistent push from above to redesign these streets for all the development that is coming, but it just isn't there. I mean we are still waiting for completion of the two-way conversions downtown and the bike lanes.
Not to beat a dead horse or offend, but it sounds to me like we need a new administration. I've heard rumblings in the recent past of Bob Trezise possibly running, I'd be mildly optimistic about that.
Apparently the city is getting ready to remove the islands on MLK between Ionia and Lenawee and turning the street into 5 lanes. Did I miss this? Has it been discussed here? The City Pulse article isn't very clear on what this will actually look like, I'm wondering what side of the road is going to be getting a bigger ROW? I'm not a fan of the idea based on what little I know about it.
The real issue is that corner south of Lenawee on the southbound side of MLK but I get that is never going to get fixed unless the bridges all need replacing at the same time and they can reroute it then. In a perfect world all the boulevards would be gone and the land reclaimed for other purposes, and could be further road dieted in the future, but the amount of money that would take unless it needs to be rebuilt due to age would be way too high.
I was around before this street was converted to the present configuration; the project cleared out a lot of old homes and neighborhood business districts including my old hood along South Logan and Barnes. Those places would be "Old Towns" these days. I believe the huge boulevard was never needed although at the time it did relieve congestion when thousands not hundreds worked at the Olds plant. It is a positive sign that they are going to try to fix this old mistake. I wish they could replace the wicked ugly highway style bridge [I know that won't happen] over the Grand River, the old one was of course, outdated but it had a nice-looking high rounded arch over the river and tracks. It would be nice if they planted a forest of trees on the reclaimed land not just a couple of dozen stick trees. If you look closely at old photos of the Capitol you can see the wall of "the woods" began just about where MLK is now.
Comments
...On the subject of trails while I'm thinking about it: The Holt to Mason connector is now under construction as part of Ingham County's Cedar St reconstruction. The entire pathway all the way to the Hayhoe Trail is fully funded, the part under construction this year will extend from the Valhalla Trail's southern end to College Rd along the east side of Cedar St. The remaining section of the trail is partially funded by a Federal grant with the County paying for the rest, it will go from College Rd, across 127 via a new pedestrian bridge next to Howell Rd and connect to the Hayhoe trail at Kerns & Howell roads. No word on timeline there but I'd guess next year is likely.
This will add 3.7 miles of new trail while connecting to the existing 3.3 mile Hayhoe trail and 1 mile Esker trail, which just needs about one block of path along Holt Rd to connect to the Valhalla Trail which connects to the main trail system. Besides that 1/4 mile gap you will now be able to start as far away as Turner Dodge, Moores Park, Waverly near Jolly, or Lake Lansing Park and go all the way to Mason (or anywhere between) almost entirely away from roads and rarely crossing one at grade. The Rivertrail network should break 50 miles of contiguous paved trails next year or 2025, not including the many disconnected pathways some of which are multiple miles long themselves.
Relevant links:
https://www.wilx.com/2023/07/13/part-michigan-avenue-lansing-undergo-full-reconstruction/
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2023/07/13/lansing-michigan-avenue-reconstruction-lanes-bicycles/70409712007/
https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/michigan-avenue-corridor-revamp-starts-in-october,62214
https://www.lansingmi.gov/1091/Michigan-Avenue-Rehabilitation
EDIT: After looking at the more detailed construction plans on the city's website I see that the traffic lights will unfortunately be on wires and I can't see anywhere that it specifies what materials will be used to pave the ROW. One positive thing that I do see that they are including planting boxes in addition to the trees all along the street, that should be a nice touch as long as they're maintained.
https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/city-planning-to-remove-islands-on-martin-luther-king-jr-blvd,87296