Lathrup Village Complete Streets Ordinance

The City of Lathrup Village, Michigan Adopts Complete Streets Ordinance

As a result of planning efforts for “Complete Streets,” the City of Lathrup Village has adopted an ordinance that will help facilitate future street, bike facility, and sidewalk improvements.

Lathrup Village, MI

With assistance of Lathrup Village-based Birchler Arroyo Associates, Inc., a Michigan planning firm that specializes in downtown planning and transportation consulting, the City Council and Planning Commission have been developing a Non-Motorized Transportation Plan (NMTP), a Non-Motorized Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and a Complete Streets Ordinance. The purpose of these efforts is to guide the planning, design, construction and reconstruction of roadways, sidewalks, bicycle paths, and other transportation facilities, making them “Complete Streets.”

Recent legislation adopted in Michigan provides a method for achieving “Complete Streets” in communities across the state. “Complete Streets” is a relatively new term that describes a transportation network that provide safe and efficient access to users, whether they travel by car, truck, transit, assistive device, foot, or bicycle. In Lathrup Village, plans for street and sidewalk repairs are made annually. However, the City recognized the need to address non-motorized transportation more fully and with an emphasis on improving the connectivity in and around the entire City, despite the physical boundaries of Southfield Road and I-696, which bisect the City from east to west, and north to south, respectively.

The Reverend Oscar King III, a Lathrup Village Planning Commissioner, sums up the “Complete Streets” planning efforts by noting, “In my sense, it redefines Lathrup Village so that it becomes something more than somewhere people drive through, getting to somewhere else. It becomes a destination, a well-planned destination, that can respond to what was, what is, and allow us to plan for the future.”

Birchler Arroyo Associates Inc. vice-president Rod Arroyo agrees, “With the Complete Streets Ordinance, the City is taking a big picture approach to creating a complete transportation network for its residents and businesses. “ The new ordinance will require the City to consider how improvements can be made to the non-motorized transportation network when other types of public infrastructure projects are undertaken.

The Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on the Complete Streets-Non-motorized Transportation Plan on November 8 and anticipates that the plan will be adopted as an amendment to the City’s Master Plan by December.

With assistance of Lathrup Village-based Birchler Arroyo Associates, Inc., a Michigan planning firm that specializes in downtown planning and transportation consulting, the City Council and Planning Commission has been developing a Non-Motorized Transportation Plan (NMTP), a Non-Motorized Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and a Complete Streets Ordinance. The purpose of these efforts is to guide the planning, design, construction and reconstruction of roadways, sidewalks, bicycle paths, and other transportation facilities, making them “Complete Streets.”

Recent legislation adopted in Michigan provides a method for achieving “Complete Streets” in communities across the state. “Complete Streets” is a relatively new term that describes a transportation network that provide safe and efficient access to users, whether they travel by car, truck, transit, assistive device, foot, or bicycle. In Lathrup Village, plans for street and sidewalk repairs are made annually. However, the City recognized the need to address non-motorized transportation more fully and with an emphasis on improving the connectivity in and around the entire City, despite the physical boundaries of Southfield Road and I-696, which bisect the City from east to west, and north to south, respectively.

The Reverend Oscar King III, a Lathrup Village Planning Commissioner, sums up the “Complete Streets” planning efforts by noting, “In my sense, it redefines Lathrup Village so that it becomes something more than somewhere people drive through, getting to somewhere else. It becomes a destination, a well-planned destination, that can respond to what was, what is, and allow us to plan for the future.”

Birchler Arroyo Associates Inc. vice-president Rod Arroyo agrees, “With the Complete Streets Ordinance, the City is taking a big picture approach to creating a complete transportation network for its residents and businesses. “ The new ordinance will require the City to consider how improvements can be made to the non-motorized transportation network when other types of public infrastructure projects are undertaken.

The Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on the Complete Streets-Non-motorized Transportation Plan on November 8 and anticipates that the plan will be adopted as an amendment to the City’s Master Plan by December.

Identifying High-Crash Intersections

Birchler Arroyo Associates, Inc. is assisting the City of Novi with a City-wide study of high-crash intersections. The initial phase is to collect 5 years of traffic and crash data for about 60 major intersections and determine which intersections qualify as "high-crash."

When traffic crash data is typically collected at the municipal level, communities often focus on the top-ten intersections based on crash rate. Unlike evaluations based simply on crash frequency, those based on crash rates – crashes per million entering vehicles – reflect the true risk of having a crash.

While studying crash rates within the boundary of a municipality is helpful, drilling down to understand whether or not a crash rate is significant or not can provide more in-depth insight into high-crash intersections. By comparing local data to a large sample of physically similar intersections serving similar traffic volumes – rather than a smaller sample of more diverse intersections within the City – it can be more reliably determined that a location’s crash history should truly be a matter of concern. Following a methodology included in the Southeast Michigan Council of Government's (SEMCOG) Traffic Safety Manual, crash rates are compared to a Critical Crash Rate to guard against drawing unwarranted conclusions based on a location’s crash rate being higher than average due to random occurrences. The Critical Crash Rate is based on a statistical confidence interval developed using data collected from similar intersections in the southeast Michigan region. Only where the crash rate exceeds the Critical Crash Rate is the intersection reliably classified as “High-Crash.”

In addition, crash severity is also evaluated and is expressed as a casualty ratio – the proportion of all crashes involving at least one fatality or non-fatal injury. To guard against drawing unwarranted conclusions based on a location’s casualty ratio being higher than average due to random occurrences, the casualty ratio is compared to a Critical Casualty Ratio. Only where the casualty ratio exceeds the Critical Casualty Ratio is the intersection reliably classified as “High-Crash-Severity.” As with the Critical Crash rate, the Critical Casualty ratio comes from a statistical confidence interval developed using data collected from similar intersections in the region.

Besides identifying high-crash intersections that may warrant further study to identify crash mitigation measures, this project has resulted in updating the crash data base with the most current traffic count data. This has several potential uses and benefits in addition to providing the most reliable traffic crash rate at each of the intersections evaluated.

It is expected that this study will be concluded in the next 60 days.

Lathrup Village Complete Streets Update

The City of Lathrup Village's efforts to plan for and implement complete streets continues. The City adopted a Complete Streets ordinance in September 2011. The draft Complete Streets Plan is scheduled for a public hearing in November, and work continues on the draft of the Non-motorized Transportation Improvements Program.

The plan calls for wider sidewalks on Southfield Road and the establishment of a bike lane adjacent to one-way parking aisles on both sides of the road. Where the parking aisle is not in place, a path would be provided separate from the sidewalks. The Planning Commission felt that bike lanes directly attached to the outer Southfield Road through lanes would have a very limited appeal to riders. Within the proposed Village Center downtown area, on-street parking is proposed on Southfield Road. The Planning Commission is also recommending an extensive bike route system in the residential areas, with new wayfinding signage to direct bicyclists to specific destinations.