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City staff seek council OK for multi-lane reconfiguration study to identify lane-reduction and transit design options
Summary
City transportation staff briefed the commission on a planned, citywide planning-level evaluation of 10 multilane corridors. Staff said they will ask city council to award a contract to Tool Design Group on April 7 and expect a one-year study to produce conceptual designs, metrics and preliminary cost estimates.
City transportation staff told the Ann Arbor Transportation Commission on March 19 that they intend to seek City Council approval on April 7 for a planning-level evaluation of 10 multilane corridors and to contract Tool Design Group to perform the work.
Project scope and purpose: Trevor Bridal, the staff presenter, said the study will evaluate all city-owned multilane roads for potential reconfiguration to advance Vision 0 (the city’s safety goals), lower vehicle speeds, improve transit operations and create more comfortable walking and biking conditions. Staff received proposals from three consultant teams and recommended Tool Design Group; council approval is scheduled for April 7, 2025.
Why it matters: The study will analyze safety, person throughput, transit priority, cycling network connectivity and traffic volumes to identify where lane reductions or other reassignments of right-of-way are feasible today. Bridal said the work is planning level — less detailed than corridor-specific engineering but meant to allow the city to spot present-day opportunities and direct more detailed work on complex segments.
Method and timeline: The consultant’s proposed work plan includes safety analysis, workforce mobility, transit integration, cycling network design, and traffic-volume evaluation. Staff presented a one-year schedule: data collection in summer 2025, concept development in summer–winter 2025, public engagement once concepts are available, and final reports in winter–spring 2026. Bridal said corridors will be grouped into “opportunity,” “challenging,” and “transit priority” categories to direct analysis.
Trunk lines excluded, for now: Commissioners asked whether corridors such as North Main, Jackson, Washington and Huron were included. Bridal said those are state trunk lines under Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) control and were intentionally excluded because the city cannot unilaterally reconfigure state-owned roads; some of those corridors are already the subject of other studies or jurisdictional-transfer discussions with MDOT.
Next steps: If council awards the contract on April 7, staff will begin data collection and public engagement in summer 2025. Staff emphasized the study’s focus on safety and transit integration while noting trade-offs among speed, access and safety.
No formal vote was taken by the commission at the March 19 meeting on this item; staff sought and received commissioners’ questions and feedback.
