VBT board approves intersection study at Belleville/Tyler roads

“It’s long overdue,” said Van Buren Township Trustee Kevin Martin, noting he’s been working for four years to get left-turn arrows at the Belleville Road / Tyler Road intersection.
His comments came at the Feb. 1 meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees after the board voted unanimously to approve a $6,500 traffic study to see if left-turn arrows are needed. Trustees Sherry Frazier and Reggie Miller were absent and excused.
Trustee Martin said he had been involved in an accident at that intersection and he has reported the many “near misses” he has witnessed. He also said he has seen car parts lying around that intersection from accidents.
Treasurer Sharry Budd said she sees they will be doing the study virtually and with aerial pictures and she wonders if it will include looking in the odd twist in the road.
“That’s what makes the problems at that intersection,” she said.
In a memo to the board Lawrence Luckett, director of public service, explained the traffic signal at that intersection currently operates under a two-phase (no signalized left turn) condition.
“The analysis will be conducted due to safety concerns expressed by the township and the proposed traffic study will analyze the need to adding a left-turn phasing signal to all four approaches of the identified intersection,” Director Luckett wrote.
He said the analysis will evaluate traffic volumes, crash patterns, vehicle delays, and sight distance and determine if the left-turn phasing signal would provide safe and efficient operations at the intersection, as well as what type of signal should be installed, if warranted.
Luckett said the study will be completed according to the guidelines and practices specified in Michigan Department of Transportation’s “Electronic Traffic Control Device Guidelines” and the results will be turned over to Wayne County who will decide and, “Hopefully, they will fund it.”
Trustee Donald Boynton asked if the township might be able to get money from the U.S. government for this.
Supervisor Kevin McNamara said that federal money goes through the state of Michigan and hopefully will come to the local communities for traffic safety, as a lump sum.
The Left-Turn Phasing Analysis will be performed by the township’s consulting engineers, Fishbeck of Grand Rapids. The report presented to the board was signed by Kyle Reidsma, senior traffic engineer / project manager.
State Champs Proclamation
At the beginning of the meeting, Supervisor McNamara read a proclamation praising the Belleville High School Football Team, which won the 2021 Division I State Championship. The proclamation also praised quarterback Bryce Underwood who was named MaxPreps national Freshman Player of the Year.
At the end of the proclamation, the board of trustees officially declared Nov. 27 – the day of their championship game — as “Belleville Tigers Day in Van Buren Township.”
Supervisor McNamara said this is the first time the township has named a day to mark anything.
The framed proclamation said the team had 65 players, one head coach Jermain Crowell, and 17 assistant coaches.
McNamara said to build a premier community, Van Buren Township needs the school district with an exceptional program and schools, and the district has come a long way in the last five to seven years.
He named several programs at the school, praising them all, but saving the largest praise for the football champions.
Treasurer Budd said her late husband Bill was on the 1959-60 Belleville High School football team and it was good but didn’t win the championship. Now, she said, her grandson, Luke, is on the championship team.
Clerk Leon Wright said he’s been in the township for 27 years and both of his sons played BHS football. He thanked the coach for what he is doing. Coach Crowell said he had been with BHS football for seven years.
Trustee Martin said the Homecoming football game was the only one he could attend last season, but Bryce Underwood will be at BHS for another three years and that means there will be another three championships.
Trustee Boynton congratulated the team and said he saw no games last season because of his work schedule.
“Tap, tap, tap,” said Trustee Martin, echoing the team’s motto, that it has to keep tapping at the door to get the big win.
McNamara said the people of the school district built a free preschool for children, which is just great. He said the “butterfly effect” is in play and “everything is moving.”
In other business in the 28-minute meeting, the board:
• Heard Clerk Wright announce that the township offices will be closed on Feb. 2 and 3 because of the inclement weather they are expecting. McNamara said employees are taking home their laptops and all phone calls will be returned. He also said the township is declaring a snow emergency, “starting right now,” which means people needed to get their vehicles off the streets so snowplows and fire trucks can get by. He said it took Wayne County Roads two days to clear the last snow from Haggerty Sub; and
• Heard McNamara say that Wayne County has hundreds of openings for snowplow drivers, so people who are available should sign up.