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PLEASANT RIDGE — The Pleasant Ridge City Commission approved a contract for the construction of the Woodward Avenue cycle track, and work is expected to begin soon.
Approved at its May 9 meeting, the contract is for $1,813,716 with the Michigan Department of Transportation. The project is funded through a Transportation Alternatives Program grant from SEMCOG and administered through MDOT for $1,388,197. The Pleasant Ridge Downtown Development Authority will be covering the rest of the project’s cost of more than $425,000.
Pleasant Ridge’s cycle track, a separate project from the Woodward Avenue road diet and resurfacing, will see work between Sylvan Avenue and Main Street. According to city documents, the project consists of a reduction of one travel lane; the addition of a cycle track that is protected from traffic by parking lanes and the curb; landscaping improvements; and more than 25 new trees.
“From Sylvan, where there’s no on-street parking, there will be trees and a healthier landscape area provided between the travel lanes and the cycle track to make it feel safer,” City Manager James Breuckman said. “Then when you get past Maywood … the on-street parking comes into play and provides extra protection for the bike lane. Continuing from Wellesley to Devonshire … there’s that small median island and the road splits; that median island’s being removed with a new park, a small park space being added with the road being moved further to the south. This improves site visibility, so it creates more of a 90-degree angle for people turning from Devonshire onto Woodward.”
Breuckman stated this also will narrow the amount of space that bicyclists and pedestrians have to cross on the road, as it’s currently very wide, and it moves the intersection away from the bend, which will allow for more space between the turn onto Main Street from where Devonshire ends.
“Cars will be traveling slower, and there’ll be less going on at that intersection,” he said.
The city is looking to begin the project later this month or in July and to complete it in the fall.
Mayor Bret Scott said the project is exciting, especially as it’s happening alongside the Woodward Avenue road diet.
“You can see it all come together (at) roughly the same time,” he said. “I know that for a lot of people there have been comments about, you know, construction and … the unpleasantness of a construction and cone season that we’re in right now in Michigan, but it’ll all be worth it when it’s all completed this year, and I’m really happy to see it come to life.”
