Streets & Transit

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  • edited February 2020
    Kind of surprised by the response. What I posted as good news; the data I posted showed CATA turning itself around with major ridership increase for the first time in many years. It's consistently among the top for systems of its size in the country, and seems to be back on a path for growth. Yeah, there are improvements to be made, but it seems like some are happening. It had gotten itself in a rut, and the new CEO appears to have turned it around.

    Anyway:
  • It is great to see progress compared to other cities in the US. I welcome improvements, new ideas and sound management. However looking at the larger picture of mode use shows transit is very low. This document shows about 85% of trips in Lansing are in motor vehicles. I do not know what the transit goals of the area are but transit looks to be about 1-3% currently. I know there are many factors that lead to this number but I remain critical that this rate is acceptable. Maybe the new push for a sustainable city manager will work on reducing the emissions from transportation which is the biggest share of emissions nationally.
  • It's just so easy to use a car in Lansing, I'd never consider using mass transit here unless I had to. To me the solution is density. With increased density will come increased mass transit use, but without the density it's hard to justify a much more comprehensive transit system than we have. There's a real need for something like BRT or light rail on route 1 and I'd bet there's demand for some routes out in Delta Township but besides that I don't see a lot of obvious holes in CATA's services, increased frequency on a lot of routes would be nice but probably impractical.
  • edited March 2020
    I was up Wood Road, yesterday, and noticed that they've installed the traffic lights at the intersection with the extended Coleman Road. It doesn't appear they've paved this end of it yet, or even fully put in the curb and gutters. But it does look like grading is mostly done. I was kind of surprised to see them.

    It also appears that the renovation of the old two-story Irwin Bank building across from Eastwood is complete with Starbucks on the ground floor and the renovated office space above. And the old site of Max and Irma's in Eastwood right across the street is well under construction. Looks like they are using steel beams for part of this development.
  • Why is freeway construction considered an essential service right now? I'm surprised this construction is still proceeding.
  • I believe I heard MDOT is thinking that this is a great time for roadwork due to the lack of traffic and that they were keeping workers protected. They noted the heavy traffic is a much greater danger to workers and they could keep them working at a distance from each other.
    I came back from my hideout cabin yesterday with very light traffic and noticed the new lights installed on Wood Road. It seems like I have a memory of this route being the old trolly line to Lake Lansing. I guess this will take some traffic off of Lake Lansing Road but I don't know enough about this area, where is the new road-going? I think some sort of each trip road tax should be paid by Granger and all the cement plants around this area, it's their trucks that destroy the roads around there.
  • Yeah I can see why this is a good time with less cars on the road, as well as we need the roads to be in good condition for transporting of medical supplies. But it's also a good time to be extra cautious and prevent injuries that would increase demand on clinics and emergency rooms.
  • edited April 2020
    Gb, if you do a search of "Coleman Road" you can find our discussion on it. I'd also mentioned in three posts above yours.

    Yeah, with traffic down, now is the best/safest time for them to being doing road work so long as they take the extra health precautions. However, I was more than a bit disappointed, though, to see some city workers doing road work up at Penn and Michigan, today - literally across from the hospital - without masks and without the proper distancing between workers. They were not taking things seriously; I almost called the city.

    Though, honestly, I think there are a range of business activities that could be started back up with proper safety precautions and supplies, particularly outdoor work and small service businesses which don't deal directly with the public. The problem as I displayed is that it'd require compliance with rules, and we seem to be pretty bad at that.
  • If they were a city work crew I would write or call, the Connect-Lansing website gets a response very quickly, and I would write or call the Mayor he always responds in some way. It's great to get some work done but they should be safe or staying home. I went through a similar event out east in the '80s which lasted much longer than this will I hope, and the lessons learned are that you have to take precautions and be safe every time!
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