- The City of Lansing is converting Allegan & Ottawa streets to two-way traffic
- Both streets have been one-way roads since
- Video shows the public works director explaining why the change is being done
Two Lansing roads that sandwich the capitol on the north and south ends are being converted to two-way traffic streets this weekend.
Lansing Public Service Department says Allegan & Ottawa Streets between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Grand Avenue will see lane reductions Friday to begin two-way conversion work.
Andy Kilpatrick, director of Lansing Public Service Department, says it'll be the first time the streets will be two-way in about 70 years.
PHOTO: LANSING PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR ANDY KILPATRICK SPEAKS TO SENIOR REPORTER DANNY VALLE ON THE CHANGES COMING TO OTTAWA AND ALLEGAN STREETS
"In the early 1950s all these streets were two-way," Kilpatrick said. "Then I-496 came in and some of the north-south [streets] changed direction."
Kilpatrick says the city began converting one-way streets into two-way traffic as early as 1999. The city received $3.3 million from the state in 2018 to continue the project but hit a snag when the pandemic hit and led to an 'inability to get materials.'
Joanna Liu, owner of AnQi Sushi Expres, believes it will bring more people into her business that's been around for 14 years.
"A lot of people just go 'I didn't know you were here'," Liu said. "Hopefully that will happen."
Angel Mendoza, of Lansing, says it will help lessen the congestion the street sees during lunch time.
"Traffic gets backed up with a one-way road but with a two-way road it'll get better," Mendoza said.
The project is expected to be done by the end of the day on Saturday and Kilpatrick says the streets will be easier to drive around.
"It'll go back to I think something that makes a lot of sense to people driving around," Kilpatrick said. "[They won't] have to look for signs to figure out which way to drive."
Kilpatrick says it'll be an adjustment for drivers and for walkers not used to lookin both ways.
"There will be traffic coming in both directions," Kilpatrick said. "Just watch on Monday because that might not be a lane that you can turn into anymore. It might be the opposite direction of traffic or it might be a center-turn lane."
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