An artist's rendering (right) depicts a possible view of North State Street if it were converted to three lanes with two bike paths, sidewalks, and trees. The photograph depicts the street as it now appears. The comparison board was prepared by Rowe Incorporated of Mt. Pleasant and was on display during the city council meeting Monday, March 16. Without an opportunity to hear from the public, the St. Ignace City Council said it is not ready to convert a portion of North State Street from four lanes to three lanes to accommodate bicycles. Proposed by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), a three-year trial would change only the paint on the road to delineate a northbound lane, a southbound lane, a center turn lane, and five-foot bike paths on each side of the street.

If a three-year test is successful, the transformation would become St. Ignace's portion of the 75-mile North Huron Scenic Pathway, linking the city to Drummond Island.

Following a 45-minute discussion at its regular meeting Monday night, March 16, at Little Bear East, Council said it would hold a public hearing in May or June when hotel owners and summer residents return to the community for the season. City Manager Eric Dodson was directed to coordinate the hearing with St. Ignace Township and the highway department.

State Street is part of the I-75 business loop and MDOT is proposing the bicycle lanes from Marquette Street north to the St. Ignace city limit, just north of the Mackinac County airport.

The plan is endorsed by the North Huron Scenic Pathway committee, co-chaired by the St. Ignace Downtown Development director, Deb Evashaveski, and the project has been under discussion for three years. A general layout of the trail was laid out at Little Bear East 14 months ago.

St. Ignace Township supported the project at its March 12 meeting, adopting a resolution to request MDOT explore the lane reduction with the three year study.

Such a test would not begin until 2010, so the city's reluctance to support it until after a public hearing this spring may not jeopardize the project.

For the three-year test, MDOT would remove old pavement markings and would be responsible for painting the lane lines, including the center lane turn lines and the white edge markings of the two driving lanes.

At the end of the three-year trial period, a highway traffic and safety engineer would compare accident frequency and severity to the three years prior to the lane conversion and change of use. If the accident rate had dropped and the new traffic pattern works smoothly, the bicycle lanes would become a permanent part of the road.

The city would be responsible for maintaining the bike lanes, including painting, pavement restoration, and snowplowing costs for that portion of road dedicated to bicycle traffic. To help the city, MDOT says it will try to make enhancement funds available for the maintenance, which could include paying for all costs during the threeyear trial period.

Eric Cadeau an assistant development engineer with MDOT from the Newberry Transportation Service Center, said the benefit of the road change is that the residents and visitors would have access to two bike lanes, which would benefit the economy of the city.

Under MDOT's test study proposal, he said, public sessions would be held prior to implementing the trial to prepare the public for the change. After the three-year period, a public hearing would be held to share MDOT study results and to seek opinion on the road change.

Councilman Paul Fullerton said he is not against a bike path, but is against converting the road from four travel lanes to two travel lanes. He noted there is no other road heading north after one passes the county road commission building at State A Street.

"It's a safety issue," he said. "There's no way in the world this could be a safe way to do it with two lanes only and no passing lane. Emergency vehicles, fire, ambulance, everything else, it would be a disaster if we went to two lanes only."

With many hotels along North State Street, in addition to the new hospital being built there, traffic to the area, he said, will only increase.

Mr. Fullerton also worried about accidents closing the street, although since the width of the pavement will not be changed, the change would not make that more likely than it already is.

Councilman Willie LaLonde said he has concerns for ambulance travel along the road once the new hospital is opened.

A traffic study already has been done as part of the hospital assessment, Mr. Cadeau said, and engineers found that the road would continue to operate efficiently with the lane changes. He noted that situation is common with many roads, including other trunklines in the state. He presented two studies that showed accidents dropped by reducing four lanes to three and adding bike lanes. The studies looked at more than 20 corridors in Iowa and eight corridors in Michigan.

Councilwoman Susan Tamlyn- Massaway said the lane reduction could slow traffic, which might be a benefit to businesses.

Department of Public Works Director Les Therrian said he is concerned about the cost of snow plowing, which already is straining the city's budget. MDOT only pays the city to plow motor vehicle lanes, so the city would lose about 25% of its contract money by replacing one lane with the bicycle lanes. MDOT would also lose federal highway money, for the same reason, but Mr. Cadeau said it is willing to do so to accommodate the city's desire for a non-motorized pathway.

Similarly, the city lost plowing money in the downtown area when it created curb extensions to beautify the parking lane.

Mayor Paul Grondin said he is not opposed to the trial, since it is not a permanent change, although he has reservations because of the perceived traffic issues and additional costs to the city.

Councilman Don Gustafson, suggesting Council hold a public hearing to see what residents want to do, said, "I think this is too premature tonight."

Councilman Tom Della-Moretta agreed that council members need more time to consider the matter and get public input.

"Quite frankly, I think even having a vote on this would be foolish," he said of MDOT's request for a resolution to proceed with the study.

"MDOT's official position," said Mr. Cadeau, "is that this is actually harmful to the Department of Transportation because we are losing lane miles and we would lose funding for them, however, if it is the desire of the citizens of St. Ignace and Council, this is something we support. You have the entire support of the Newberry TSC and also of the Superior region ,and we will help you pursue enhancement funds."

The I-75 bypass land conversion was the first option selected by the North Huron Scenic Pathway committee. An alternative plan, said Mrs. Evashevski, would involve moving electrical lines and stanchions, signs, and possibly expand the right-of-way.

City Finances

In other business, Mr. Dodson gave council a financial report that included the percent of expenditures by account through February, however revenue was not included. Revenue information, he said, would be presented at the next meeting. With 16.6% of the year complete, street lighting expense was at 26.64%, which Mr. Dodson attributed to an increase in utility rates. Expenses at Little Bear East, which amount to 29.90% of the budget, were also high. More activities are taking place at the facility, Mr. Dodson said, and the revenue report will help give council members a more complete picture next month.

The city's auditors, Rehmann, Robson of Cheboygan, are expected to be at city hall at the end of the month. The city is not sure when the audit report will be complete. Councilman Don Gustafson suggest Mr. Dodson request the report as soon as possible to allow Council to begin working on any issues as quickly as possible.

Mr. Dodson briefed the city council on the sewage treatment lagoons discharge pipe into Lake Huron, which the city would like to move. The warm effluent attracts birds to the site, which is at the end of the Mackinac County Airport runway, and the birds pose a danger to airplane traffic at the airport. (See separate story in this issue.)

"I believe the Federal Aviation Administration and Michigan Aeronautics should be concerned about it, and certainly it is something 14,000 passengers a year should be concerned about," said Mr. Dodson, "so were working to try to alleviate that threat."

The city has received a letter from the Department of Environmental Quality asking if it is interested in receiving stimulus money for the $1.6 million Portage Street sewer project. The city is hoping to receive between $300,000 and $350,000.

The city, said Mr. Dodson, continues try to do everything it can to get stimulus money for other projects.

During public comment, resident Dean Baker apologized to council for his "outburst" during council's February 2 meeting. He also questioned the article in The St. Ignace News. The article, he said, implied he thought the city is trying to hide information from the public by not publishing its audit in the newspaper. During Monday's meeting, he said he thinks council members are honest and are not trying to hide anything.

Council next meets Monday, April 6, at 8 p.m. in council chambers at city hall.