The intersection of Novi Road and Grand River after rush hour. Photo by Darin Baydoun.
NOVI, Mich- The Novi City Council met on June 17, and among other topics, approved a motion set forth by Councilwoman Laura Casey for an official road project study session that will take place on July 17.
“We have been talking for quite some time about how bad the traffic is on our major roads and intersections,” said Casey.
“We had done a big study on the Novi Road corridor, and we know we have tough traffic, and the study was eye opening with showing how the easements could be widened and how Grand River and Meadowbrook were impacted by the effects of this.”
Intersection of 11 Mile Road and Beck Road. Photo by Darin Baydoun.
“There have been similar easement issues with Beck Road as well, so it’s really a combination of all of these factors that brought this session together,” said Casey.
While sessions like this aren’t common, according to Casey, support for the meeting was not short to be had, on the condition that what comes out of the meeting is a real plan of things to get done.
“Discussing roads is great, if you do something about it,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Dave Staudt. “Unless you walk away with an action plan of things that you are going to get done, what’s the point of having a session in the first place?”
Casey herself said that to come out of this meeting without a definitive plan would be defeating its purpose altogether.
“To have results come out of this conversation is the only reason to have a meeting like this,” said Casey.
“We need to come out of this with plans and agreeing on modifications that need to be made to roads like Beck and find the language core for what we would propose with a bond for these modifications.”
“We’ve got to prioritize how to get these things done and how to propose it to residents, because no plans or modifications that we agree on are going to be fast and they’re not going to be inexpensive.”
As for whether meetings similar to the study session could be approved in the future, both Casey and Councilwoman Kelly Breen have confidence that this type of meeting will prove effective for solving other notable issues in the future.
“I think we will prove to ourselves that this type of meeting structure is effective,” said Casey. “A lot of cities around us do meetings like this a lot, and I think it’s a really good method for examining multifaceted types of issues like this one.”
“I hope so,” said Breen. “I know it’s hard to do a meeting like this, but to get all the major players involved and having theses coordinated meetings to check in with each other and discuss issues I think would be very helpful.”