City staff outline safety upgrades for Kalamazoo Avenue, recommend signal at Griggs and other quick-build changes

City staff presented a package of safety and operational improvements for the Kalamazoo Avenue corridor, including a proposed full traffic signal at Griggs Street, temporary curb extensions at Adams, Evergreen and Griggs, and upgraded crosswalk markings.

Ariana Jesy, assistant director for Mobile GR, said the city’s road safety audit covering a five-year period found 193 crashes on the corridor, with zero fatalities, two serious-injury crashes and nine crashes involving vulnerable users such as pedestrians or cyclists. She said engineering analysis showed the 85th-percentile vehicle speed on parts of the corridor was 11–13 miles per hour above the posted limit, a measure engineers use to identify speeding problems.

The presentation called for a full signal at Kalamazoo and Griggs — a project the staff has advanced into design — with construction and inspection costs estimated at about $800,000 and a targeted installation in summer 2027. Staff also recommended a future full signal at Adams Street but said a four-way stop was judged inappropriate there because of uneven side-street volumes. A rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) at Evergreen was recommended at an estimated cost of roughly $150,000, but staff noted that installation depends on a land-transfer and power/ROW issues.

Staff described a suite of lower-cost, programmatic actions intended to be implemented sooner: a consolidated set of operational improvements estimated at about $30,000 for 2026, removal and seasonal reinstallation of glued-in roadway signs, upgrading parallel-bar crosswalks to high-visibility “continental” markings, restriping, and parking setbacks (about 30 feet) at intersections to improve sight lines. Temporary curb extensions were proposed to shorten crossing distances and prevent motorists from using the parking lane to pass left-turning vehicles, a crash pattern the audit found on the corridor.

Speakers at the meeting praised the analysis and encouraged rolling the audit methodology out to additional corridors. One participant noted the city typically leverages approximately $50,000 of MDOT safety money each year to study two major corridors and said staff capacity limits how many corridors can be advanced at once. Another attendee suggested lower-cost traffic-calming alternatives — including four-way stops when hourly flow permits and solar-powered flashing beacons (roughly $25,000 a set) — and urged that signals be programmed to operate as flashing-red four-way intersections during non-peak hours to maintain pedestrian safety and calm traffic.

The city manager and other participants clarified that some detailed traffic-control design decisions are more appropriate for the Mobile GR commission, and staff framed the briefing as informational about how third-ward equity funds are being used rather than a final policy vote. Staff said intersections receiving near-term treatments include Hancock, Adams, Evergreen and Griggs, and the project will coordinate with other planned engineering work so treatments are synchronized across the corridor.

The meeting closed the Kalamazoo item with staff advancing the Griggs signal design and continuing to pursue funding and right-of-way matters for the Evergreen beacon.