PLYMOUTH, Mich. (WXYZ) — Plymouth city leaders are moving forward with plans to create a safer pedestrian and bike connection between the Old Village area and Hines Park, with $160,000 in funding secured to begin the planning and engineering phase.
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The funding, secured through an intergovernmental agreement between Plymouth and Wayne County, will cover preliminary design, cost estimating, and related technical analysis to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed connection. Any future construction would require separate approvals and funding commitments.
The study area includes Wilcox Road, Mill Street, and Hines Drive, with the potential to incorporate Northville Road.
John Buzuvis, Economic Development Director for the city of Plymouth, said the project has been a long time coming.
"This type of a connection has been talked about really for years in the community, creating a safe and separated path for pedestrians to reach Hines Park without having to kind of share the road with vehicles and ultimately making it safer for everybody," Buzuvis said.
FULL INTERVIEW: Economic Development Director John Buzuvis talks about the proposed multimodal path
Buzuvis said the planned path would be more than a standard sidewalk.
"What that would be would be a multimodal pedestrian bike path ADA-compliant from the Old Village area, so Mill Street and Starkweather area in our Old Village area of town to Hines Park," Buzuvis said.
"We anticipate this will be not just like a regular sidewalk. It'll be a little bit of a wider path, with like you said, the you know walk here, bike here kind of separation, at least in paint on the path and maybe some other physical, you know separation," he said.
Buzuvis said the demand for a safer route is clear.
"People want to use Hines Park, but there's not really a super safe way to get there without kind of commingling with traffic," Buzuvis said.
The Old Village Association is backing the project. Jan Waller said the connection will benefit the broader community.
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"The prospect of having a safe walkway between Hines Drive and Old Village is fantastic, you know, bike paths as well, all this sort of connectivity that we think is going to really benefit that downtown area," Waller said.
"Even though there's quite a lot of space there, it's just not safe, so this is great. This is a great development for Old Village, for Plymouth, and for the people that use that part of Hines Drive," Waller said.
"Old Village can use the people, and it's expanding and it's a nice way to get around," Waller said.
For residents who walk the area regularly, the project can't come soon enough. Jordan, a Plymouth resident who walks the area with his dog three times a day near Wilcox Lake, said the current conditions are difficult.
"It would be really convenient. It would be nice to have something on Wilcox, it's tough to traverse right now," Jordan said."We wouldn't have to come all the way down here, we could go that way, which would be nice."
Other Plymouth residents also expressed support for the project.
"You do take your life into your own hands coming up and down Wilcox Road, it's a lot of heavy traffic," Scott Ickes said.
"It's a good idea. I think we could use more walking space in the area," Ickes said.
Greg Jamison, who also lives in Plymouth, said he welcomes outside help to make it happen.
"If somebody helps us with money, go for it. It can't hurt to have it go down the hill," Jamison said. "I think it'd be great. It'd be a lot easier for people to walk all the way around the lake, too, which would be nice."
The construction budget is preliminarily estimated at around $850,000. City leaders are hoping state and local grants will cover the cost.
Hines Park is part of a regional trail system that could ultimately connect to the Joe Lewis Trail system.
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