Residents urge pedestrian signal at Merrill and Howard, warning moving crosswalk uphill would increase risk

At the March 2 Kalamazoo City Commission meeting, a string of residents, parents and students urged the city to install a pedestrian-activated traffic signal at the Merrill and Howard intersection to protect schoolchildren who use the crossing.

A neighborhood resident summarized the problem bluntly: "25 kids, 4 lanes of traffic, 13,000 cars going 40 miles an hour," and said the safest solution is "a signal that stops the cars," not moving the crosswalk higher up the hill. The commenter said buses exiting a nearby driveway would obstruct drivers' sightlines at the proposed new crossing and that an island refuge could not fit in the proposed location.

Multiple speakers backed that assessment. Austin Shannon said he was nearly killed at that location in a 2019 crash and warned that relocating the crossing "closer to where vehicles are traveling at their fastest speeds" would raise stopping-distance risks. Stephanie Neighbors recalled a crash that nearly hit her son and her mother and said moving the crossing uphill "does not address safety concerns"; she recommended strengthening controls at the current location, including a pedestrian-activated signal.

Parents described repeated failures by motorists to stop for crossing pedestrians, particularly in the fourth lane where drivers have less time and distance to react. David Wilson, who has acted as an ad-hoc crossing guard, told the commission he regularly saw vehicles fail to stop: "Only three lanes stopped and the fourth lane kept going." He said funding had been allocated for a push-button stop mechanism but that residents did not see it implemented yet.

Students who used the crossing described near-misses and fear. One high-school-age speaker said children "were so terrified to cross the street" that they would sometimes huddle at the curb rather than cross midblock.

Speakers also linked the debate to broader equity and infrastructure concerns. A resident noted neighbors have pushed for improvements since 2012 and argued that the lack of a signal implied the neighborhood was treated differently from others that already have traffic signals. Another resident raised long-standing storm-drain flooding issues in her neighborhood and urged the city to address flooding and sidewalk maintenance as part of broader safety planning.

City staff did not present a report on the item during public comment; the commission heard these remarks during the public-comment period and later discussed Howard Street coordination under reports from City Manager Hankins. Hankins said staff are arranging a meeting with neighborhood leaders to coordinate engagement on the MDOT Howard Street project.

The commission did not take a formal vote on the Merrill & Howard crossing at this meeting. The comments will be part of the city's ongoing outreach and project coordination for Howard Street and Safe Routes to School planning.