MDOT Moves Forward with Broad Street TAP Grant for 'Road Diet'

A public forum will be scheduled for 12 June, and council will likely make the final decision on 16 June.

Hillsdale City Hall—At the city council meeting scheduled for Monday, 2 June, the council will hear an update regarding the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) resurfacing of M-99, which is to be undertaken in 2027.

Specifically, an update will be provided regarding the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant that will likely provide the city with grant funding for additional parking lot resurfacing. To get the state funds, the city must create infrastructure on Broad Street that promotes alternative modes of transportation—bike lanes—while bringing Broad Street from four traffic lanes to three.

According to the packet for the council’s 2 June meeting, the MDOT TAP review committee reportedly met earlier this month. The committee was “largely positive” about Hillsdale’s grant application, though unspecified “minor revisions” were requested.

The city will also be required to hold a second public forum on 12 June at the Hillsdale Community Library. The forum would be the second of its kind, following a contentious 16 January meeting at which the public expressed hostility to the bike lanes in particular.

The final vote for the project will likely take place at the city council’s 16 June meeting.

Opinions about the proposed plans for M-99 are divided. Hillsdale City Councilman Matthew Bentley, Ward 2, said that he will continue opposing the project.

“I intend to fight against the bike lanes on Monday and through the public meeting and beyond until this ‘Road Diet’ is defeated,” he said.

Council affirmed its support for the project in a 6-2 vote earlier this year.

Hillsdale Renaissance founder Luke Robson, on the other hand, told the Hillsdalian that the road diet might be the “single most beneficial program that the government could enact” to foster “a more vibrant and desirable downtown district.”

“Downtown districts don’t exist to be throughways for efficient traffic flows,” Robson said. “They exist to serve as centers for urban business and living, and good cities should plan around those priorities over and above traffic efficiency.”

According to Robson, the current layout “drastically harms the walkability of downtown Hillsdale,” while presenting “an unnecessary risk” to drivers and those parking alongside the road.

As for the bike lanes, Robson noted that “we shouldn’t really be thinking about the bike lanes as bike lanes, per se, but rather as lanes in which car doors can safely be opened and through which drivers and passengers can safely enter and exit their cars.”

Alongside changes to Broad Street, the project would involve the vacation of some streets near the Post Office for additional parking spaces.

Robson said that “businesses would benefit” from the additional parking, and the changes on the whole would allow people to “comfortably park closer to the businesses they would like to solicit.”

The TAP Grant, if received, would reportedly cover 80 percent of the project—approximately $800,000—with the Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA) and the City of Hillsdale splitting the remaining costs—approximately $100,000 each.

Jacob Bruns

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Related Articles:

Broad St. Road Diet Projected to Slow Traffic, Reduce Accidents, Increase Parking

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City of Hillsdale Road Diet Discussions Delayed Until Next Month

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