Residents Pack Eastpointe Forum to Oppose Proposed 9 Mile ‘Road Diet’

Eastpointe City held a public forum focused on a proposed change to 9 Mile Road that would reduce a seven-block stretch from five lanes to three, drawing more than an hour of public comment on safety, businesses and emergency response.

Interim City Manager Elkidoom opened the session by saying the meeting was a public forum solely to gather resident and business input on the proposed road diet and that written comments would be accepted through Friday at 12 p.m. Elkidoom said, “What we're here to talk about tonight... is the proposed change to 9 Mile Road from 5 lanes to 3 lanes between Tuscany and Kelly Road.”

Bridal Kern, the city's consulting engineer with Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, presented the design option for the road diet. Kern said the change would narrow the section from Schroeder to Kelly to a single through lane in each direction plus a center turn lane, move bus stops outside travel lanes, eliminate duplicate driveways for multi-access businesses and create about 11 feet of additional green space on each side for potential future improvements. Kern said the section east of Kelly to I‑94 would remain two lanes each way with a center median island. Kern summarized the project funding and schedule: the city received an earmark of $4,380,000; the three‑lane option's estimated cost is about $5,300,000, with remaining costs to come from Act 51 major road funds (gas-tax allocations). Kern said a roundabout at Kelly was not part of the current design and would add roughly $1.5 million if pursued; he also said the city plans to submit comments to MDOT and for NEPA review after the public comment period closes, seek bids this winter and begin construction next spring. Kern also noted a water-main replacement between Tuscany and Kelly would take place this winter and that the water main east to Kelly was replaced about 12 years ago.

Dozens of residents, business owners and civic leaders used three-minute public-comment slots to oppose the road diet. Concerns voiced repeatedly included: potential delays for police, fire and EMS response; increased congestion and spillover traffic onto residential side streets and near schools; harm to businesses that depend on convenient vehicle access; and the suitability of a roundabout at Kelly given truck and delivery traffic.

Several speakers cited emergency-run statistics and public-safety testimony previously given to city bodies. David Deroney, who spoke during public comment, warned that “If 9 Mile is reduced to just 3 lanes, it would only be a matter of time until a delayed response from police, fire, or EMS ends tragically for a family.” Deroney and others cited annual call volumes for local public safety: he said police runs were about 25,610 in 2023 and 26,554 in 2024, and that fire runs were roughly 6,061 in 2023 and 6,630 in 2024; those figures were presented as context by speakers and attributed to their remarks, not to a written city report at the forum.

Multiple commenters said current traffic counts—cited by speakers as about 21,000 vehicles per day—exceeded typical federal thresholds discussed by audience members for safe road-diet conversions. Jennifer Nichols, an Eastpointe resident, summarized prior public-safety positions, saying that fire and police chiefs had repeatedly objected to road-diet proposals for 9 Mile in past hearings, citing backups and blocked lanes at drive-throughs as examples that would worsen if through lanes were reduced.

Business owners at 9 and Kelly told the city the corridor’s retail and drive-through businesses rely on vehicle access. Clark Pata, who said his family owns a grocery at 9 and Kelly, said his store’s gross sales were down about 30% during recent construction and warned that decreased access could threaten long-standing businesses and potentially prompt relocations.

Speakers also raised operational questions about the design: whether bus stops removed from travel lanes could re-enter congested traffic, how a roundabout would accommodate large delivery vehicles and semitrailers, and whether side streets used as detours would increase danger near parks and schools. Some commenters who supported the concept of traffic calming said they favored safer, infrastructure-first approaches—improved sidewalks, benches, bus shelters and transit connections—rather than the current lane-reduction plan. Steven Hamantrey said he supported the principle of calming streets for pedestrian safety but added, “Yes, road diet, but not this road diet,” expressing concern with the proposed implementation.

No formal council action was taken during the forum. City staff said all spoken and written comments will be compiled and forwarded to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the NEPA review process. Kern said the city planned to seek contractor bids this winter and, if funded and permitted, to begin construction in spring of next year; he also said additional design and land-acquisition questions would be addressed if a roundabout at Kelly is pursued.

Several residents urged political remedies; some said the most effective next step was to vote against council members who supported the measure. Others called for more detailed traffic modeling, clearer communication from city staff, and investments in sidewalks, bus stops and other pedestrian infrastructure before any lane reductions.

The forum closed after more than an hour and a half of public comment; Elkidoom reminded the audience that written comments would be accepted through Friday at 12 p.m. and will be provided to MDOT, NEPA and city council members for review before next steps.

For now, the proposal remains under review and no city-level decision was announced at the forum.