Traffic lights will be reprogrammed to stay active later in the evening, after City Manager Jonathan Smith met with Michigan Department of Transportation officials, Aug. 14.
“It was a good meeting with MDOT – we’ll try to keep doors open with them,” Smith said. “They were very cooperative and understanding of what we’re trying to do.”
The traffic lights at Washington and Main previously started flashing for the night at 10 p.m., and all pedestrian “walk” buttons stop working.
“Ten p.m. is too early. We’re going to be changing from 10 p.m. to midnight,” he said. “MDOT doesn’t want to go later than midnight.”
The pedestrian walk signals will also be changed to automatic, to activate with each green light instead of being button activated. They will also change signs in the intersection’s center, lighted boxes to “no turn on red.”
Work continues on a crosswalk on M-15 at Middle Lake Road.