Politics & Government

Allen Street Reduced to 2 Lanes for Traffic Flow Study

For the next seven days, the Ferndale Downtown Development Authority will examine whether changes could help improve traffic, pedestrian safety on the busy stretch between West Nine Mile Road and West Troy.

For the next seven days, getting to downtown Ferndale from Allen Street is going to be a little different.

Between West Nine Mile Road and West Troy, the city of Ferndale will reduce the small stretch of road from three lanes to two, closing off one of the northbound lanes.

The reduction starts today and ends Wednesday. It is taking place to study traffic flow along the small stretch of Allen.

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"We are going to evaluate physically narrowing Allen, to see if it is going to work for traffic flow and increase pedestrian safety," Ferndale Downtown Development Authority Director Cristina Sheppard-Decius said.

She said the sidewalk on the east side of Allen that abuts , which is 4 feet wide, is too narrow for pedestrians and the DPW and DDA have discussed add a foot to that stretch.

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The Traffic Improvement Association, an organization the city employs for a yearly fee of $6,100 to study various traffic improvements, had studied Allen for traffic count. Sheppard-Decius said that the TIA told the DDA that narrowing Allen could cause some issues with traffic backup. However, the DDA, working with the , wants to see the result of physically narrowing the street.

The TIA works with 70 communities throughout Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Livingston counties.

Sheppard-Decius said the TIA has worked on several projects throughout the city including studying narrowing West Nine Mile between Livernois and Pinecrest and pedestrian issues at the corners of Nine Mile and Woodward Avenue.

"Traffic improvement and pedestrian safety, however, doesn't mean physical construction," she said. "Sometimes traffic improvements can be as simple as signage."

Sheppard-Decius said another option for improving traffic flow in that area of Allen is making a three-way stop, although that wouldn't solve the pedestrian-safety component. Currently, there is only a stop sign at northbound Allen and Troy and at westbound Troy at Allen. Southbound Allen has no sign and that's where, potentially, a sign could go.

"There is confusion at that intersection. You think you have to stop but you don't and it backs up traffic," Decius-Sheppard said.

Additionally, there are crosswalk issues. There is a crosswalk at West Nine Mile and Allen. If a stop sign were to be placed on southbound Allen, at Troy, a crosswalk would go in, too.

"There are a multitude of issues there," Decius-Sheppard said.

The seven-day study will be a test run, she said, to truly see if there would be an issue in eliminating a lane. "There is going to be a little confusion because it will be new," she said.


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