Trails in the News - Press Clipping Files

12/19/2007

Emmet County Road Commissioners Critical of Transportation Study

Emmet road commissioners critical of transportation study

By Fred Gray News-Review Staff WriterTuesday, December 18, 2007 1:52 PM EST
Brian Gutowski, engineer-manager of the Emmet County Road Commission, and the county’s three road commissioners are not pleased with the conclusions of the Petoskey Area-Wide Transportation Study.

At the commission’s bi-monthly meeting on Friday, the group responded to the request of the Corradino Group, which produced the study, that each of the entities involved give a recommendation on the final summary before it is published.

Gutowski said he and road commissioner Leroy Sumner had been involved with the study for a couple of years. Gutowski said that in his own view the study group is recommending spending too much money on transit and non-motorized transportation.

“I’d like to concentrate on the roadway issue and the intersection improvements that they’re requesting,” Gutowski said. He said the improvements discussed in the study include:
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— U.S. 131 and Intertown Road south of Petoskey.

— The U.S. 131-Lears Road intersection east of Wal-Mart.

— West Mitchell and Madison Street in the city of Petoskey

— Division Road and U.S. 31 intersection.

Click here to see the map of intersections.

About the latter, Gutowski said:

“We all recognize that that intersection needs to have some improvements, but no one knows exactly what to do with that. The Corradino Group have drawn four lanes on their plans going through Bay View. But that’s not going to happen.”

Commissioner Frank Zulski Jr. said the study’s recommended closing of Country Club Road at Division Road didn’t make sense, when the study noted that traffic at the U.S. 31/Division intersection, less than a quarter mile north, was already in gridlock much of the time.

Closing of the County Club Road would presumably direct even more traffic intersection, Zulski said.

The commissioners estimated it would cost $35 million to extend Manvel Road from U.S. 31 to Mitchell Road, exclusive of the cost of acquiring the rights of way.

Road commissioner Dick Bidstrup said he’d rather see money spent building the right of way “although you won’t see the road built in your lifetime.”

Bidstrup said the first 11 pages of the lengthy study is the key.

“The rest is pretty much repetitious,” he said. “They really are hung up on non-motorized transportation.”

Gutowski and Zulski agreed. “Unbelievable,” Zulski said.

“They must be a bunch of bikers or something,” Bidstrup said, “and I respect those folks who do that. Those folks pay taxes at the gas pump but they aren’t paying anything for the use of the trails. And we’ve already spent a lot of money in Emmet County on the bike trails. We have to maintain a balance of where we’re going to spend our money, and these bike trails are not cheap to build.”

“I suspect we’re spending more money on non-motorized thoroughfares than maybe is a fair balance, and I have not reached a conclusion on that, but I’ll tell you, I have my doubts about this study done by Corradino.”

“We don’t have the money to maintain what we’ve got,” Zulski said.

“I’m in agreement with (extending) Manvel but not in closing Country Club Road,” Bidstrup said.

Gutowski said he will write a letter summarizing their views and put it in the board packets before the next meeting.

Fred Gray can be contacted at 439-9374 or fgray@petoskeynews.com.

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