TRAVERSE CITY -- Mayor Chris Bzdok can't figure out why bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings weren't included in plans to reconstruct a busy section of Eighth Street.
Bzdok is an avid bicyclist, but that's not why he's scratching his head. The city's past and current master plans either explicitly or generally call for bike lanes and crossings along Eighth and other city streets, as does a regional planning concept dubbed The Grand Vision, and other documents.
Bzdok wonders why all that seemingly was ignored when City Engineer Tim Lodge crafted an $850,000 redesign of Eighth between Garfield Avenue and Barlow Street, a project set to break ground in April.
Commissioners never received a full report on the project, Bzdok said. They potentially could have learned that reconstruction didn't mesh with planning guidelines.
"Could (commissioners) have at some point started digging into this and found the answers? Yeah," Bzdok said. "But is that really the way it ought to work? Do we need to be constantly on the lookout, or should major topics and decisions be brought to our attention?"
Bzdok posted a lengthy entry on his Internet blog late Tuesday that questioned why Lodge didn't incorporate bike lanes and crossings into the plan. He also questioned why commissioners didn't know sooner, especially since Lodge recently told City Manager Ben Bifoss it's too late to change plans.
"I'll be the first to admit it: I get emotional when it comes to bike lanes," Bzdok wrote. "But the issue is, who's in charge here? The city commission, through our master plans and policies? Or the city engineer, who can overrule our plans and policies and not tell us?"
The project includes about $230,000 in stimulus funds through the Michigan Department of Transportation, and Lodge said changes could jeopardize that money, Bzdok said.
Lodge told a Record-Eagle reporter that Bzdok on multiple occasions refused to meet with him to discuss his concerns. The reconstruction plan doesn't call for specific bike lanes, Lodge said, but does offer wide lanes to accompany bikes.
"We can't always fit everything in," said Lodge, city engineer since 2003. "With the mature trees that are there, widening didn't appear to be an option."
Lodge said designated bike routes also exist within a few blocks of Eighth Street at that location.
Bzdok plans to suggest that commissioners direct Bifoss to hire a firm to issue another opinion about whether bike paths and crossings can be included in the project.
"Nobody's going to argue that we should jeopardize stimulus funds," he said. "The question is, what's possible, and how are we going to get objective information about what's possible."
