Medians with artwork, benches and colorful lighting displays are some of the things you could see along Big Beaver in coming years as the City Council considers ways to make Big Beaver more inviting and easier to walk on and across as part of the Move Across Troy Initiative.
“We have businesses that are coming into the community, especially at Automation Alley, which would be high-tech companies, and they are attracting people that like a certain lifestyle … where at work they can also enjoy themselves by going out to lunch and walking down the street,” Maggie Hughes, Troy management analyst, told City Council, city leaders and members of the Downtown Development Authority at a Jan. 12 council study session.
She said that one of the directors at Altair said that when they have clients come in to Altair, they have to send them to stay in hotels outside of Troy.
“They are staying overnight or over the weekend because they don’t have cars, and if they’re in Troy, even though there are a lot of hotels, they’re just stuck at their hotels,” Hughes explained. “They’re sending them to surrounding communities where they can walk around and go get dinner.”
City Planner Brent Savidant explained that Big Beaver is zoned as a form-based district from Rochester to Coolidge, with the intent to create “a world-class corridor.” He noted that some of the new requirements put in place are that new projects constructed along Big Beaver have a strong relationship with the street — which includes having an entrance on Big Beaver, transparency requirements that engages the street by allowing people to see activity in the building, public art and a wide range of permitted uses.
He said the district needs more residential development and pedestrian activity on the street to become a world-class corridor.
The city hosted a two-session public symposium Oct. 1 at the Troy Community Center.
Mark de la Vergne, national director for transportation planning for Sam Schwartz Engineering, who created the Chicago Pedestrian Plan, led a workshop during the symposium that featured educational materials and best practices for addressing pedestrian issues in the corridor. Hughes said residents, brokers and business owners attended.
“Big Beaver, to me, is a really unique opportunity,” said de la Vergne. “Most suburban municipalities, I’d say 95 percent, don’t have this sidewalk — just bits and pieces. Not the level that you guys have. You can walk from one side of the corridor to the other.”
He added that other corridors don’t have the intersections with pedestrian crossings that Big Beaver already has in place.
“The corridor itself is much further along than probably a lot of the competition,” de la Vergne said. However, he noted that crossing Big Beaver near the Marriott Detroit, Troy, hotel, where he has stayed, which is near the Troy Civic Center, is “a challenge.”
The city will first focus efforts on three crossings along Big Beaver.
These are the Automation Alley SmartZone midblock crossing near John R, this year; reconfiguration of crossings from the Troy Civic Center to the Trails and Pathway Connection, in 2016; and improvements to and around ramps on I-75, such as raised crosswalks, murals or mosaics on the underpasses, and fencing between support columns, at an undesignated date.
“There are so many opportunities for partners,” he added. “We need to make sure connectivity works.”
Who would pay?
Mark Miller, director of economic and community development, said the city’s planning consultant, Carlisle/Wortman Associates, worked to find ways to fund the projects. He said the costs for the proposed upgrades to the Automation Alley SmartZone midblock crossing are estimated at $360,000 and could be funded with sponsor contributions by the Local Development Finance Authority and city funding from the capital fund.
The Civic Center crossing, estimated to cost $480,000, is eligible for state and federal funding because it would connect to the trail system. The Spencer Street crossing, located at south side of Big Beaver, near the Civic Center, is estimated to cost $420,000 and could be funded through the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments Alternatives Program, Miller explained.
The I-75 interchange reconfiguration cost is estimated at $300,000 and underpass improvements at $240,000, which could be funded through federal and state funding, and sponsor contributions, Miller said.
“All projects would require a city contribution,” Miller said. He added that in order to get sponsor contributions, the business community and property owners would need to come together and “decide what would be the best way to help invest in these types of projects.”
Troy City Manager Brian Kischnick said city leaders have met and will continue to meet with the Road Commission for Oakland County, which has jurisdiction over Big Beaver, and the Michigan Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over I-75, as Move Across Troy moves forward. He added that the council would discuss protocol for funding the maintenance along the roadside during the upcoming budget process.
Mayor Dane Slater noted that with the construction of Children’s Hospital of Michigan on Big Beaver and the Amber Apartments on Livernois, near the Troy Civic Center, the Civic Center intersection on the north side of Big Beaver would become congested within the year.
He noted that, in the past, it was the city of Troy’s decision to develop Big Beaver to keep traffic moving, and he said that Road Commission officials seemed to be receptive to plans for more traffic signals on Big Beaver, with the intent to slow traffic down. Current traffic counts on that stretch of Big Beaver are 55,000 vehicles a day.
“We still want to move, but we trapped ourselves to some degree,” Slater said. “The Road Commission seemed very receptive to our ideas.”
Dennis Bostick — who owns and operates the Troy Sports Center, on the north side of Big Beaver, west of John R, and is a member of the Downtown Development Authority — said his company would be willing to contribute financially to the Automation Alley SmartZone midblock crossing project. “It’s going to be for our benefit,” Bostick said.
“I think it’s a great start, personally,” Slater said. “We brought somebody in from Chicago that told us we have a treasure here.”
