On Tuesday afternoon, [April 26] the Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority decided it wanted a $2 million pedestrian walkway along Belleville Road over I-94 whether or not it got a grant to help with the cost.
The walkway will have designs that will mark the area as Van Buren Township (not Belleville) and will be as outstanding to travelers as the blue Super Bowl design over I-94 at Telegraph.
The VBT DDA voted unanimously to apply for a $500,000 grant from SEMCOG (Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments), which also puts it in the running for a Michigan Department of Transportation grant. The deadline for the SEMCOG grant is May 2 and the MDOT grant is a few days later. The DDA will find out if it got the grants sometime in July.
But, whether or not the grants are there to help pay the cost, the DDA will put up the pedestrian overpass with its special decorations to mark the township. Engineer Dave Nummer said they have to make sure the bridge over I-94 is strong enough to hold the designs they want to put up. Makes one wonder.
While they hope to start construction in 2017, it may be delayed. But, it’s on its way. Whatever the schedule, it looks like pedestrians will have a new, safe way to cross I-94 in the near future.
And, it will be really pretty – we hope.
Cross I-94 at Belleville Rd? Why? To get from a road side gas station to another road side gas station and fast food thrus?
Why? Because there are apartment complexes, hotels and homes just south of the I-94 south service drive off Belleville Road and those pedestrians are walking to Wal-Mart, Tim Horton, McDonalds, Starbucks, etc… very unsafe to walk along the shoulder. This is finally becoming a walkable community especially with the new sidewalk along the north service drive across from Cracker Barrel. Maybe some day VBT will not have the vacant Farmer Jack (10 years vacant). There was an excellent suggestion in today’s Independent that the vacant Farmer Jack would be a good location for a Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics or Michaels. Every year the township officials allow a carnival to use the vacant Farmer Jack parking lot which then creates “tent city” behind the store. VBT officials should be checking on what is being done to improve this blighted strip mall instead of making it look worse with a carnival. This building been vacant so long that now it probably needs to be demolished. You allow this run down building to stand and then plan on demolishing the historic Riggs house?
Isn’t there a pedestrian bridge just west of Belleville Rd already?
Yes, there is a pedestrian bridge at Quirk Rd. over 1-94 but for the residents off Belleville Road there is no sidewalk on the south service drive to get to the Quirk Road bridge. The pedestrian bridge is used mostly by residents of Quirk Sub and Green Meadows apartments on Quirk Rd. (although the sidewalk ends at Girl’s Town). The residents that live on Jeanette, Harmony Lane area and the large apartment complex want to make a straight shot to Walmart, McDonalds, etc.. and would have to go out of their way to get to the Quirk Road pedestrian bridge (there’s no side walk in front of the post office, Chinese restaurant, etc.)