Madison Heights receives grant for crosswalks, traffic circles

MADISON HEIGHTS — In an effort to improve street safety, the city of Madison Heights has received grant funding to install new crosswalks in select areas, as well as mini traffic circles.

The grant is for roughly $180,600 from the Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP, through the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. TAP is a competitive program that awards about $10 million in federal funding to local transportation projects each fiscal year.

Eligible projects generally focus on improving street safety and usability for pedestrians, such as adding new pathways or updating existing walkways.

“This grant supports very tangible improvements that directly align with our mission to provide a safe and connected community,” said Madison Heights Mayor Corey Haines.

Matt Lonnerstater, the city planner for Madison Heights, said that the city first applied for the grant in November 2025.

“SEMCOG made it clear that this round of TAP grant funding was specifically reserved for ‘shovel-ready’ projects that aim to enhance and improve pedestrian and bicycle safety,” Lonnerstater said in an email.

The grant will pay for the installation of four rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RFFB) crosswalks and two mini traffic circles for calming traffic.

The RRFBs are solar-powered, pedestrian-activated flashing LEDs that will be installed at crosswalks at Concord Drive, East Whitcomb Avenue, and East 11 Mile Road.

“The RRFBs will give people walking a much safer opportunity to cross the street by using a series of flashing lights at the crosswalk to warn drivers to slow down,” Lonnerstater said. “The RRFBs will be placed in areas where, given the mix of residential and commercial land uses, people often walk but are not currently provided with a safe option to cross.”

As for the mini traffic circles, they will be installed on Wolverine Street between Lincoln and Greig avenues.

“Wolverine Street is a designated bike route but also acts as a vehicle cut through between 11 Mile and Lincoln. This presents a street safety issue where high vehicle speeds are interacting with people on bikes and people walking,” Lonnerstater said.

He noted the mini traffic circles are mountable, so emergency vehicles will have unimpeded access if needed. For everyone else, they will slow vehicle speeds on Wolverine Street by gently channeling vehicle traffic around them. The circles will also present drivers with a clear visual cue that they have entered a neighborhood where people may be walking or biking.

All installations will take place in 2027, starting in the spring or summer.

“These improvements are focused on locations where people are already walking, accessing transit, visiting businesses and traveling to school, but where safe crossing and speed management tools have been limited,” Haines said. “These projects move us closer to our goal of fewer traffic accidents and safer streets by slowing traffic, improving visibility, and making our roads more comfortable for residents of all ages and abilities.”

Lonnerstater said that SEMCOG has been a consistent source of support for the city over the years, from providing data to help guide city policies, to planning assistance and more.

The new crosswalks and traffic circles are just the latest effort by Madison Heights towards safer streets. The city has participated in the Southeast Oakland Safe Streets for All initiative along with the cities of Hazel Park, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge, Oak Park and Berkley, which resulted in the 2024 Southeast Oakland County Safety Action Plan. The plan is a road map for redesigning local streets and changing policy to improve safety for all road users.

To supplement the plan, Madison Heights adopted a “Vision Zero” resolution in 2024 that pledged to seek out projects and policies that will eliminate serious injuries and fatalities on the city’s streets by the year 2045.

“Projects such as the 11 Mile streetscape plan have been completed concurrently to not only support economic development in our downtown, but to create a safer environment for all road users, especially those outside of a vehicle,” Lonnerstater said. “City leadership especially recognizes those outside of vehicles … face a disproportionately high risk of fatalities and serious injuries resulting from crashes.

“These initiatives, however, are only good if they are acted upon and implemented through policies and projects on the ground — and implementation requires money,” he said. “This grant, and others like it, are crucial for making sure our street safety initiatives don’t just sit up on a shelf collecting dust.”

State Rep. Mike McFall, D-Hazel Park, said he wants the state to increase revenue sharing with cities so that they can better invest in infrastructure.

“Madison Heights has been great about getting grants, but if (the state) gave cities the level of revenue sharing we should, these cities wouldn’t have to be so creative with their grant funding,” McFall said. “Coming from local government (as the former mayor pro tem of Hazel Park), I can especially understand the pinch of municipal budgets.”