As Macomb Township continues to experience the largest population growth amongst all communities in the state of Michigan, traffic improvements have become devastatingly overdue. Inefficient and substandard safety circumstances along high volume traffic ways exemplify the need to make Macomb Township more mobile, while simultaneously highlighting the need for safer roads. According to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, approximately 25-28k vehicles per day travel along 23 Mile Road, partially because this major local roadway connects M-53, M-3, and I-94, and partially because a majority percentage of Macomb Township residents live in subdivisions adjacent to 23 Mile Road. By expanding 23 Mile Road to 5 lanes from Romeo Plank to Card Road, local drivers will experience less time waiting for a safe amount of space between vehicles when attempting to pull out of subdivisions, while also lessening the risk of vehicles crossing over the mid-line.  

A traffic circumstance mutually significant to resolve is the intersection at 22 Mile Road and Romeo Plank. Since the infrastructure of 22 Mile Road is not parallel on the east and west side of Romeo Plank, turning south onto Romeo Plank from EB 22 Mile Road and turning north onto Romeo Plank from WB 22 Mile Road is unnecessarily dangerous. Romeo Plank from 22 to 23 Mile Road experiences approximately 22-25k vehicles per day, a local traffic congestion figure previously deemed unfit for a 2 lane road by former Macomb County Road Commissioner Fran Gillett when supplying justification for widening Van Dyke in 2010. By making the 22 Mile Road and Romeo Plank intersection a 5-way intersection in all directions, safety as well as visibility will increase drastically for Macomb Township drivers.

Although traffic congestion is an issue our local government should act in a reactionary manner to alleviate, the issue of safety is not. Our local government should be proactive in resolving the raw fact that roughly 50 accidents occur between Romeo Plank and Card on 23 Mile Road every year , and nearly 100 accidents occur every year adjacent of the 22 Mile Road and Romeo Plank intersection(SEMCOG). Quality of life for Macomb Township residents should be the top priority for our authoritative entities: Macomb County Board of Commissioners, Macomb Township Board of Trustees, Mark Hackel our Macomb County Executive, and Fran Gillett our Macomb County Road Commissioner.

This is a petition by the people of Macomb Township asking our local authorities to expand 23 Mile Road to 5 lanes from Romeo Plank to Card and to create an intersection at 22 Mile Road and Romeo Plank that promotes safer traffic circumstances (5-way in all directions, similar to the intersection at 21 and Hayes) for Macomb Township residents!

Thank you.