Appendix E This document contains public comments received from the adoption of the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan for Southeast Michigan in June 2013 until October 2017. 2045 Regional Transportation Plan Public Comments Received As of October 2017 State/ First Name Last Name Organization Title County City Date Comment Province Mark Flanders Citizen Wayne Detroit MI 7/1/2013 In favor of rail on Woodward Avenue. Working with the Moroun family to get them to announce a re-opening date for Mark Flanders Citizen Wayne Detroit MI 7/2/2013 the Michigan Central Station. Jimmy Ward II Citizen 7/3/2013 Opposed to I-94/I-75 Expansion City of Hazel Jack Lloyd Mayor Oakland Hazel Park MI 7/5/2013 Impact of I-75 expansion on my city (Did not speak) Park Made comment through meeting contact us form. Comment is below: I posted details about the upcoming Taylor meeting, and this is a response. Thought you might pass it along so it does not happen again... "Thanks for sharing-- unforutnately, if the I-94 Expansion/I-75/I-94 reconstruction public hearing is reflective of how SEMCOG conducts many of their meetings and "takes public Diane Mente Citizen Wayne Woodhaven MI 7/8/2013 input", I'm guessing this will do little to nothing in regards to public input. Plenty of SEMCOG members didn't even look at those giving public input--not that it was necessary to hear, it's a sign of interest and respect. It's not that hard to turn your chair around if you're sitting at a round table and make sure you are actually looking at someone." It's been shown again and again that adding lanes doesn't reduce congestion- it worsens it. Invest that money in solutions that actually take cars off the road- and reduce congestion- like rail (both commuter and light rail), regional bus systems, van-pooling (with guaranteed ride home!), car-sharing/hourly rental, bike- sharing/hourly rental, and so on. If you can't bring yourselves to do that, invest that money in repairing unsafe & deficient bridges- not an unnecessary, counter- productive lane widening. MDOT's focus just now should prioritize being a good City Of Bonnie Wessler City Planner Washtenaw Ypsilanti MI 7/9/2013 steward of the network they have, keeping it safe, and reducing future Ypsilanti maintenance costs - all things that could be accomplished with encouraging and providing for alternate modes of transportation. Adding lanes just perpetuates the cycle of construction, congestion, construction. From an environmental perspective, shifting travel modes to non-single-occupant vehicles (through the methods mentioned above, of others not mentioned here) has a much higher long- term ROI than adding lanes. Adding lanes is just doubling down on a failing system- get out of it while you still can. Good morning. I am a resident of Macomb Township. Unfortunately I have not been able to attend any of the meetings regarding bike paths or lanes that have been happening in the community. I would love to see some bike paths/lanes and safe areas created in my area to allow travel by bike. With the cost of gas escalating, and the fact that I work only 7 miles from my house, I would love to be Kathleen Graca Citizen 7/17/2013 able to ride my bike to work. The problem is, there are no safe routes to go from my home to my work place. A portion of my community does not even have sidewalks on the main thoroughfare to even consider riding a bike, let alone a bike lane. If you can give me the name or email address of the individual or area that I should be contacting to put in my plea for bike lanes in this area, I would appreciate it. Livonia resident concerned about bike paths/road improvements in Livonia. Said Tim Reno Citizen 7/17/2013 that there are hardly any shoulders to the roads in his area. Advocate of creating bike paths. Hopes to attend one of the Nonmotorized Plan meetings. Page 1 of 43 2045 Regional Transportation Plan Public Comments Received As of October 2017 State/ First Name Last Name Organization Title County City Date Comment Province Regional Rail Service from Chicago to Detroit Hello, Amy Malmer. Congratulations on SEMCOG's hard work on regional rail. Have you made contact with Nora Moroun about re-opening Michigan Central Terminal yet? I have a contact with Nora Moroun's secretary, Jennifer Dennis, and would enjoy working on re-opening Michigan Central Terminal but I understand from my conversations with Jennifer that CEO, Mathew Moroun and Nora Moroun are still reeling from the defeat of Proposal 6 from last fall's election. This said, the Moroun's have already moved part of their headquarters from Warren, Michigan back to the City of Detroit. I Mark Flanders Citizen Wayne Detroit MI 7/31/2013 think a little kind persuasion will go a long way. I return from Quito, Ecuador on Friday, August 2nd. Please contact me my gmail of iPhone at that time. Good luck with all inner city projects discussed in this email. I am very excited, and approve totally. B.T.W., I am sending you this message from Cuenca, Ecuador. Thanks very much, Amy! Ooops! I saw the new terminal construction in Dearborn, MI before I left on July 15th. It is splendid! Thank you for keeping me in the loop! The construction of 5 new hotels in downtown Detroit is super! I cannot wait to hear about ground breaking for light rail on Woodward Avenue. Regards, Mark G. Flanders Regional Nonmotorized Plan Public Comment Card I have been riding my bike from my home in Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor for 13 years. I have to say the current system is a messy patchwork of dangerously designed and poorly maintained bike trails. So, I mostly just ride along the street. I am an automotive engineer, so please excuse my detailed analysis below. The most direct route for me would be Packard St from Hewitt straight into town. This route includes off-street bike trails with many side-street intersections. Visibility is blocked by shrubs and tress, and drivers entering Packard rarely check for bikes on these trails. This is very dangerous. The bike lane on Packard is often blocked by weeds espeically on the east-bound side before Golfside. Packard between Carpenter and Jewett has very Richard Crayne Citizen Washtenaw Ypsilanti MI 8/5/2013 bad pavement and poorly marked bike lanes. From Jeweet on into town is mostly pleasant and safe until you cross State St. Then, heavy traffic get to be a problem. My current preferred route is Hewitt north to Clark Rd., east to East Huron River Drive, north on Dixzboro, and then I take the trail through Gallup Park to Fuller Rd into Ann Arbor downtown. The off-street bike trail along Hewitt is very bumpy and has sharp curves that slow bikers down. Side-street intersections are also bumpy. I could use the newer bike trail around McCauley Drive, but there are stop signs on the trail every few yards and the trail has tight curves that slow me down. The off- street bike trail along Huron River Drive has similar problems and it dead-ends at the bottom of the hill past WCC. Who wants to stop at the bottom of a hill when you're riding a bike? On my return home heading east on E. Huron Dr, at the crest of the hill by WCC, the right lane suddenly turns into a right-turn lane and there is a little sign telling drivers to cross my bike lane to turn right. The painted lines on the street are not visible to drivers cresting the hill. If I follow the bike lane, it pushes me into the right lane, possibly in front of fast cars in the right lane trying to pass the slow- poke cars in the left lane. I'm sure they won't see the little sign. This almost happened to me last weekend, and I consider this section very dangerous. For these reasons, I only ride on the street from Packard and Hewitt to the Gallup bike trail. It's a real shame we spent so much money on these newer bike trails that are Richard Crayne Citizen Washtenaw Ypsilanti MI 8/5/2013 so un-friendly toward bikers. The B2B trail through Gallup Pak and on along Fuller Rd has many problems. The entry at Old Dixboro Rd greets you with big bumps and there are few sections with really nice pavement anymore. The trail is mostly rough, choppy or wavy. The trail is narrow and often blocked by pedestrians enjoying nature and not watching for other traffic. It would help if there was a center lane painted and signs encouraging pedestrians to keep right except to pass. I often worry about children's safety on this busy trail as well. I almost killed a dog on a leash that crossed the entire path. I didn't see the leash until it was almost too late. I had to slam on the brakes and nearly wiped out. Then, the oblivious dog owner cussed me out in front of her 5-year-old daughter. Page 2 of 43 2045 Regional Transportation Plan Public Comments Received As of October 2017 State/ First Name Last Name Organization Title County City Date Comment Province On my return home heading east on E. Huron Dr, at the crest of the hill by WCC, the right lane suddenly turns into a right-turn lane and there is a little sign telling drivers to cross my bike lane to turn right.