The City Council gave staff members the green light to begin advertising for bids in the Island Crest Way reconfiguration project on March 1. Councilmembers also approved a finalized project design and timeline, with construction on the Island corridor set for July.

Advertising for bids is set for May 26 to June 8.

“The schedule for the implementation of this project is aggressive to ensure this project is ready for construction beginning in July, and to take advantage of hungry contractors before they have their summer booked with other jobs,” reads the ordinance.

Project Manager, Anne Tonella Howe, said that Councilmembers were satisfied with the final Island Crest Way plan that the Citizen Panel had refined for approval. The Council only made one revision to the plan, which was to remove a proposed crosswalk and median just south of the Merrimount intersection.

“The Council concluded that the crosswalk was complicating the intersection. There was just too much going on there with people making a left turn from Island Crest Way to Merrimount,” said City Manager Rich Conrad. “And they had a hard time believing there’d be a lot of pedestrian traffic at that spot. They were much more comforted by the proposed crosswalks that are a little further south.”

In total, the Island Crest Way reconfiguration plan, also called the “road diet,” has three marked east-west pedestrian crosswalks: at S.E. 46th Street, S.E. 47th Street and S.E. 48th Street, along with a pedestrian signal at S.E. 42nd Street. All of the pedestrian crossings provide a center median island to protect those waiting midway.

Late last year, the City Council voted to approve the Citizen Panel’s recommendation for an Island Crest Way road-diet through the dangerous section of Merrimount. The Council chose option C3, which reconfigures Island Crest Way from four lanes to three lanes between Merrimount Drive to the 5300 block. Transitions to a four-lane roadway take place north of Merrimount Drive and transitions to a two-lane roadway near the mailbox pullout in the 5300 block.

Signage notifying drivers of the narrowing road will begin just south of S.E. 42nd Street, providing a minimum of 1,000 feet for drivers to prepare.

Councilmembers also discussed project costs. According to the city’s current projections, the total cost of project design, inspection and construction is $650,000. The majority of this ($455,000) goes toward construction.

The city’s Transportation Improvement Plan includes fund reserves of $500,000 for the Island Crest Way project. City staff members are optimistic that, given the current economic environment, they can get “favorable bids” this May which will allow them to meet the $650,000 estimate successfully.

Plans to reconfigure Island Crest Way have been in the works for several years. The intersection at Merrimount was determined to be one of the most dangerous on the Island. The new road-diet plan, according to project engineers, will increase safety along the corridor while maintaining transportation efficiency.

For more information, visit the city Web site at: www.mercergov.org or search the Reporter Web site for archive stories: www.mi-reporter.com