The Michigan Department of Transportation planned to reconstruct Michigan Avenue through Saline in 2008, but the funding dried up during the Great Recession. MDOT rescheduled the work for 2018–but this past summer it pulled the project forward to 2016.

That’s left Saline without much time to decide what it wants from the project. “Our future is at stake,” says mayor Brian Marl. “The reconstruction of US-12 will have a profound effect on downtown for the next thirty years.”

The sudden deadline “put a lot of pressure on us,” says Marl, who was up for re-election in November. “US-12 is the main artery through town, and the dividing line of the northern and southern parts of town.”

“It was originally an Indian trail,” councilmember Jim Roth adds. “Then after the War of 1812 it was a military road from Detroit to Chicago, and the city developed around it.”

Today, as a busy federal highway that is also the main street of the city’s historic downtown, Michigan Ave. divides the city politically as well as physically. Some residents want it rebuilt much as it is, while others would like to see it redesigned to be more hospitable to people on foot or bicycle.

Marl argues that a successful downtown is crucial to the city’s future. Saline’s “historic and aesthetically pleasing downtown makes us unique,” he says. “It creates a sense of community and identity that are absolutely critical to our success as a city.”

One approach that might make downtown more pleasing would be to put Michigan Avenue on a “road diet”: narrowing the road from five lanes to three as it passes through downtown and adding bike lanes, parking, and/or wider sidewalks. That would slow traffic and make downtown safer and more walkable. Federal Highway Authority studies show a reduction in pedestrian deaths, and a slight decrease in auto accidents, on streets that have undergone road diets.

Councilmember Linda TerHaar isn’t necessarily for a road diet, but she’s clear on her vision for US-12: “What we want is a Michigan Ave. that allows for everyone to use it comfortably and safely, that would be good for people in motorized vehicles and on bicycles and on foot, because having a vibrant downtown depends on foot traffic.”

But while that’s the common wisdom in urban planning circles, it’s counter to the common wisdom of highway planners–and they ultimately get to decide. “It’s the state’s road,” points out councilmember Lee Bourgoin, Marl’s opponent in the mayoral election, “and MDOT has already said their primary responsibility is to the traveling public, and they would only consider a change if Saline could show overwhelming need.”

Instead of eliminating lanes, Bourgoin would rather see MDOT lower the speed from its current 35 to 30 or 25 mph or even build a bypass. “The laws of physics apply,” he says. “If something is full at five lanes and you reduce to three lanes, you divert the flow somewhere else–into the neighborhoods.”

Bourgoin doubts the state would approve a road diet even if Saline asked for it.

“I’ve looked at MDOT’s safety guidelines,” he explains. “They allow road diets when there are 10-15,000 cars a day. MDOT does travel studies, and before the Great Recession traffic peaked at 26-27,000 cars per day. In 2008, when traffic around the county was depressed 15 percent, traffic on US-12 dropped to 21,000 per day. However in 2010 through 2013, it came back up to 23-26,000 per day.” And Bourgoin predicts that will rise to “30,000 in a few years as the west grows.”

Jim Roth is also flat-out opposed to a road diet. “Drivers will divert themselves to skirt it; and traffic, noise, and the potential for accidents will increase in the neighborhoods; and there will be terrible traffic backups. Outsiders will avoid Saline because they don’t want to drive into a traffic jam.

“Any road with 20,000 cars per day or more hasn’t been approved for a road diet by MDOT,” Roth continues. “We would be the first.”

A 2004 FHA study backs Bourgoin and Roth, showing road diets on roads that carry a daily average of more than 20,000 vehicles are more likely to increase congestion “to the point of diverting traffic to alternate routes.”

Art Trapp, executive director of the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce, says the business group hasn’t decided what it wants from the reconstruction, except “to have it over and done with as quickly as possible, because it’s going to be so disruptive.” But one prominent downtown property owner says that enhancing pedestrian safety would benefit Saline.

“Traffic calming and crossing Michigan Ave. is very important for pedestrians,” say Bill Kinley, whose Murphy’s Crossing development sparked downtown’s rebirth in the 1990s. He recognizes the obstacles to putting it on a road diet, but points out that’s not the only option. “Another possibility is what Ypsilanti did [on Michigan Ave. in its downtown]: put islands in the turn lane in various spots,” allowing pedestrians to cross the street more safely.

Marl says he’s “committed to identify ways to calm traffic and make it safe for pedestrians, but I don’t know what form it will take.” For now, he wants more information: despite the time pressure, he says, “it’s absolutely imperative that leaders collect data and do research to make data-driven decisions.” Council voted in October to spend $15,000 on a study that will closely examine rush hour traffic on a single day. Results are due before the end of the year.

The looming November election was a wild card throughout the discussions this summer and fall–Bourgoin cast the lone “no” vote on the study and if elected mayor would oppose major changes.

Marl figures the state will finalize its plans by late spring or early summer 2015. So if the city wants to have any influence on what happens, it will need to act soon.