If you’re planning on crossing M-24 at Burdick, you now have an extra two seconds to make it safely across, thanks to a move by the Village Council at their Nov. 13 meeting.
The council voted unanimously to make the push button crossing sign at Burdick automatic and and remove the white pedestrian crossing stripes across M-24 at East St. and at Stanton/Dennison streets.
A sign directing pedestrians to cross at the Burdick St. traffic light was also approved.
According to Steve Stramsak, the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) traffic and safety engineer for Oakland County, making the sign automatic (it wouldn’t have to be pushed) would allow pedestrians an extra two seconds to cross and ‘should not cause impacts to the overall traffic flow at the intersection.?
Currently, walkers have seven seconds to cross and 19 seconds of flashing ‘don’t walk? time. Now, they will have nine seconds to cross.
Council members, however, declined to allow installation of diamond-shaped pedestrian crossing signs at East and Stanton/Dennison streets.
According to Village Manager Joe Young, the council is still adamant about having a traffic light installed where Stanton/Dennison streets intersect M-24.
The village has been trying to get a traffic light installed at that intersection (and at Broadway St./M-24) for about five years to help make downtown more pedestrian-friendly and slow down M-24 traffic.
Council’s drive to get a signal was renewed by a Sept. 14 incident involving four teenage girls who were struck by a vehicle while jaywalking across M-24 between the Oxford 7 Theater and Starbucks downtown.
‘We want a traffic signal there,? he said. ‘Until we have one, we don’t want to encourage people to be crossing there.?
The village has not heard when comprehensive traffic studies by MDOT will be done to determine whether or not a traffic signal is warranted at the intersection.