LANSING, Mich. — After months of construction, the heavily used Lake Lansing Road in Meridian Township is finally repaved and back open.
That's the good news.
However, some drivers believe this smoother road is making traffic worse in the area.
Meridian Township residents, like Jennifer Kramer, now say it is how people are driving on this smoother road that's making them feel the road is now more dangerous than ever.
Kramer told Fox 47's Nichole Buchmann, "It's like its a new race track or something and people are going even faster."
Jennifer Kramer lives off of Lake Lansing Road and says she has seen cars go more than 20 miles per hour above the speed limit.
"They went through all this effort to put in the bike lanes, but with people speeding like that it makes it unsafe for everyone," says Kramer
Other residents believe the speeding comes after years of driving slow down a bumpy Lake Lansing Road.
Dan Locatelli, a Meridian Township resident says, "There were potholes everywhere that you couldn't avoid, but people now think 'oh it's smooth now' let's fly."
He adds, "I get tailgated all the time."
Locatelli says, he's also seen drivers use the center lane to pass him.
Lt. Rick Grillo of the Meridian Township Police says, "That's extremely dangerous because you can have head-on collisions or worse."
Meridian Township Police told Fox 47 they have not noticed an increase in speeders along Lake Lansing Road since the roads have been repaved, but they admit it can be a place drivers may speed.
"I believe people have a tendency to speed through there because the road is wider and there aren't any breaks as far as stoplights. So stop signs through there and the fact that the speed limiting is changing higher to lower as you go from west to east, I think all those are factors are why people are speeding through there," says Lt. Grillo.
Meridian Township Police are setting up a speed box to start alerting drivers of how fast they're are going, especially during hours when the school speed zone is enforced.
Lt. Grillo warns, "We also have our school resource officer and other officers in the area usually in the mornings to make sure that we deter anybody that is trying to speed."
Meridian Township Police are asking people to reach out to them if they have any traffic concerns in the area.
Lt. Grillo also told Fox 47 that the department has not issued more speeding tickets, but will continue to monitor the area for speeding.
Want to see more local news ? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Appleand Android
and
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
