Birmingham Voters Decide 'Road Diet,' Presidential Picks

BIRMINGHAM, MI – Voters in Birmingham won’t just pick their favorite presidential candidate in Tuesday’s primary election. The city is one of a handful in Michigan with a local measure on the ballot — a question that, if passed, would require city officials to ask voters to approve a “road diet” on West Maple Road.

The proposal in Birmingham is to reduce the number of lanes on West Maple Road from four to three, a transportation innovation that, nationally, has been credited with reducing speeding, reducing accidents and making for safer pedestrian crossings.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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The charter amendment under consideration asks:

“Shall the Charter of the City of Birmingham, Michigan, be amended by adding a new Section 10 to Chapter XI entitled, ‘Maple Road’ to state that ‘The configuration of Maple Road shall not be less than four (4) through traffic lanes, dedicated for motor vehicle use, between Cranbrook Road and Southfield Road and between Woodward Avenue and Eton Street.’ ”

If the amendment passes, a subsequent charter amendment would be required for the three-lane configuration.

City leaders decided to try to three-lane road diet for six months, then decide this spring whether to make it permanent. Opponents to the three-lane configuration gathered 1,400 signatures, about 560 more than necessary to put the measure on the ballot, The Birmingham Eccentric reports.

City Engineer Paul O’Meara told the Detroit Free Press the three-lane configuration is working and “cut-through traffic is actually less than before” the West Maple road diet. The accident rate has been cut by more than half, he said.

Jim Mirro, 72, who led the campaign to get the measure on the ballot told the Free Press by cellphone on Friday that he was caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on West Maple Road.

"This is going to make drivers not want to go to downtown Birmingham, which is going to hurt our city, and we’re seeing that now,” he said.