Saugatuck City route options along the Blue Star Highway from Main St. in Douglas north to Maple St. - the process and option details
Overview of the Process and Options
The following is an update on our efforts to develop a viable route for the Trail through the City of Saugatuck. The City’s approval is important because the state/federal matching grants needed to fund construction require formal letters of support from all the communities and government entities along the route. All have provided those letters of support with the exception of the City of Saugatuck. The City Council has expressed several concerns regarding the proposed route for the trail – primarily regarding the Blue Star Highway / Lake Street intersection and the bridge over the Kalamazoo River.
We commissioned Fleis & Vandenbrink (“F&V”), the engineering firm used by the City, to identify viable options for the Trail that address Council’s concerns and provide an appropriate balance of safety, functionality, and cost. F&V developed numerous options that were reviewed with Council during two workshop sessions in November and December, and most recently at the 12/26 Council meeting. There are currently two route options on the table, both from Main Street in Douglas to Maple Street in Saugatuck Township, linking the existing Trail sections north and south:
1. The westside of Blue Star Highway (BSH) – this provides the most direct connection to the existing trail location in Saugatuck TWP to the north and in Douglas to the south; it requires crossing Lake Street; and
2. The eastside of BSH – this requires crossings of Blue Star Highway at Main St. and again at Old Allegan Rd., but bypasses the Lake Street intersection.
According to F&V, both options meet safety standards if appropriate traffic controls are in place and both address Council’s stated concerns (retain three lanes on bridge and in the Lake Street intersection, maintain aesthetics with palette sign, etc. – click on Design Considerations for further details. Addressing council concerns, many of which we mutually share, led to an increase in the the cost of this portion of trail. Though expensive as compared to trail segments of similar length, the west side option is still significantly lower at $1.0 million as compared to the east side option, which has an estimated cost of at least $1.9 Million. The Friends of the Blue Star Trail strongly endorse what is being called the west side option along the BSH. We believe its design is a better fit with our goals and with a projected cost that is roughly half the cost of the other option, it significantly reduces the amount we'll need in grants and the amount we need to raise as the local match for those grants.
If Council accepts the west route, it must also decide whether to accept F&V’s recommendation to install a seasonal, actuated traffic signal at Lake Street. The alternative is to enhance the existing stop signs with some form of flasher that could be activated by a Trail user.
The Council wanted time after the December 26 presentation to consider the latest options and to make comments. The date for this next meeting at Saugatuck City Hall is on January 24 at 4 pm. We encourage local residents to attend this public meeting, learn more about the potential route options, and voice your perspective to your City Council. If you are unable to attend but would like to voice your opinion about the Trail options in Saugatuck City, please email the City Manager , Kirk Harrier @ kirk@saugatuckcity.com.
We commissioned Fleis & Vandenbrink (“F&V”), the engineering firm used by the City, to identify viable options for the Trail that address Council’s concerns and provide an appropriate balance of safety, functionality, and cost. F&V developed numerous options that were reviewed with Council during two workshop sessions in November and December, and most recently at the 12/26 Council meeting. There are currently two route options on the table, both from Main Street in Douglas to Maple Street in Saugatuck Township, linking the existing Trail sections north and south:
1. The westside of Blue Star Highway (BSH) – this provides the most direct connection to the existing trail location in Saugatuck TWP to the north and in Douglas to the south; it requires crossing Lake Street; and
2. The eastside of BSH – this requires crossings of Blue Star Highway at Main St. and again at Old Allegan Rd., but bypasses the Lake Street intersection.
According to F&V, both options meet safety standards if appropriate traffic controls are in place and both address Council’s stated concerns (retain three lanes on bridge and in the Lake Street intersection, maintain aesthetics with palette sign, etc. – click on Design Considerations for further details. Addressing council concerns, many of which we mutually share, led to an increase in the the cost of this portion of trail. Though expensive as compared to trail segments of similar length, the west side option is still significantly lower at $1.0 million as compared to the east side option, which has an estimated cost of at least $1.9 Million. The Friends of the Blue Star Trail strongly endorse what is being called the west side option along the BSH. We believe its design is a better fit with our goals and with a projected cost that is roughly half the cost of the other option, it significantly reduces the amount we'll need in grants and the amount we need to raise as the local match for those grants.
If Council accepts the west route, it must also decide whether to accept F&V’s recommendation to install a seasonal, actuated traffic signal at Lake Street. The alternative is to enhance the existing stop signs with some form of flasher that could be activated by a Trail user.
The Council wanted time after the December 26 presentation to consider the latest options and to make comments. The date for this next meeting at Saugatuck City Hall is on January 24 at 4 pm. We encourage local residents to attend this public meeting, learn more about the potential route options, and voice your perspective to your City Council. If you are unable to attend but would like to voice your opinion about the Trail options in Saugatuck City, please email the City Manager , Kirk Harrier @ kirk@saugatuckcity.com.
Details of the West and East Side Options - click on blue links below to learn about the details of the study prepared by Fleis & Vandenbrink (F&V)
Written descriptions of West Side and East Side Options
Diagrams of the West Side Option and the expenses related to the Five segments of the options.
Diagrams of the East Side Option and the expenses related to the Five segments of the option
A Comparison of the Design Considerations for each option. Several of the initial options presented by F&V were lower in cost (as low as $300,000) but they did not fully address the concerns expressed by Saugatuck City's Council.
Analysis of Traffic Study and how options impact wait times at the Lake St. and Blue Star Highway intersection. A summary of the analysis is that during the summer months in limited peak traffic hours, the wait time for people in cars turning left (north) on the Blue Star Hwy from Lake St. is 40.6 seconds. This is graded as an E with A being best and F worst. If 20 trail users per hour were introduced to the crossing at Lake St. under this scenario, it would add 3.4 seconds. Adding a signal at this intersection would improve safety and change the wait times as shown under Future Conditions (Signalized). The resulting grades with a signal would all be B or better.
Incremental estimated future expense comparison for east and west side options.
Below are renderings of the the Lake St. & Blue Star Hwy intersection for the west side options shown with traffic signal and without. Both acceptable to MDOT safety standards.
Rendering of Blue Star and Lake – Option A, Aerial is an aerial view of the west side option with traffic signal.
Rendering Blue Star and Lake – Option A, Ground is a driver level view of the west side option with traffic signal.
Rendering of Blue Star and Lake – Option B, Aerial is an aerial view of the west side option without the traffic signal
Rendering Blue Star and Lake – Option B, Ground is a driver level view of the west side option without traffic signal
