JONESVILLE — Orange barrels and traffic control devices now line U.S. 12 through downtown Jonesville as work to overhaul the highway and implement a traffic calming project gets underway.
The city of Jonesville’s traffic calming project, commonly known as a road diet, will completely re-envision the downtown corridor, make the street safer for pedestrian crossings, and allow traffic to and from downtown businesses to safely turn into a business drive.
Efforts began in 2023 when a few business owners in downtown Jonesville began asking about a traffic calming possibility. After a study was commissioned, the city began working with the Michigan Department of Transportation to pair road diet efforts with existing plans to resurface U.S. 12 from Evergreen Estates to Concord Road this summer.
The project scope includes repairing city sidewalks, removing old brick pavers, planting new trees, painting light fixtures, improving street crossings and adding bike lanes to U.S. 12.
U.S. 12 from the Jonesville Middle School to M-99 will be reduced from four lanes to three with a center turn lane. U.S. 12 on both the east and west side of Jonesville is a two-lane highway.
The road diet effort is being supported by a $800,000 federal Transportation Alternatives Program grant with a $485,000 local match.
Plans to implement a similar road diet in downtown Hillsdale on M-99 have been met with heavy opposition and critiques in a project that has since stalled. If approved, Hillsdale’s own road diet plans will be implemented parallel to MDOT’s paving project for M-99 scheduled for 2027.
— Contact reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @cmurrayhdn.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Jonesville implementing traffic calming plan on U.S. 12 through downtown this summer
Reporting by Corey J. Murray, Hillsdale Daily News / Hillsdale Daily News
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