Ypsilanti hopes to create a "new front door" to its Depot Town and Cross Street area with funding for two streetscape projects to enhance East and West Cross Street, says city planner Teresa Gillotti,.
The Michigan Department
of Transportation announced federal Transportation Enhancement funding Tuesday, for which Ypsilanti will receive $769,736 in federal and state funding; the rest of the $1.025 million project will be made up of city and downtown development authority funding. The focus will be streetscapes east and west of the river, on East Cross Street from Depot Town from the railroad tracks to Rice Street, and West Cross Street from Washington to the water tower.
The West Cross portion will serve as a gateway to Eastern Michigan University, says planner Gillotti, and the whole project's addition of lighting, pedestrian amenities, curb cuts and traffic-calming measures should make that stretch of road both more enjoyable and safer.
Rain gardens will also be planted to naturally filter rain water, and a seating wall will give people a casual place to rest their feet. "In a way, it’s going to be a sprucing up Depot Town -- getting rid of old streetscaping, old concrete planters," Gillotti says.
Some of the more safety-minded measures including a pedestrian crosswalk on River Street. Currently, it can be difficult to traverse because of work on the Thompson Block and the nearby railroad crossing. A pedestrian crossing will be installed a bit further south, in front of Ypsilanti Food Co-op.
Also, intersection corners will be bumped out, which both calms traffic and makes it a shorter and safer distance for pedestrians. The improvements, a joint project between the city and the DDA, will mesh with improvements to EMU’s campus, just west of the area.
"The city will spill into the campus and vice versa," she says. "It should be very attractive and a lot safer, and provide more accessibility."
Detroit, Inskter and the I-275 Metro Trail in Canton Township, Van Buren Township and Romulus also received grants for walk/bike trails and streetscape projects. Statewide, a total of $10 million was awarded to 11 counties for non-motorized trail improvements, roadway streetscapes, parks and water quality.
Source: Michigan Department of Transportation and Teresa Gillotti, planner for the city of Ypsilanti
Writer: Kristin Lukowski
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