Clawson is putting its Main Street on a road diet, shrinking the former five-lane road to three lanes to create 70 parallel parking spaces. City officials hope cutting down on road and beefing up street parking will help businesses in the once bustling downtown district, making it friendlier to pedestrians and patrons.
"Downtowns that have on-street parking flourish," says Debbie Schutt, the director of the Clawson Downtown Development Authority. "Downtowns that don't have on-street parking don't flourish."
The road diet is part of the city's two-year pilot program to create vibrancy in its downtown at Main and 14 Mile Road. The city is shrinking the road to three lanes south of 14 Mile to the Royal Oak border this summer. Next summer it plans to do the same thing north of 14 Mile to Lincoln Avenue.
The idea is to provide more parking for the approximately dozen new businesses that have opened in the corridor, such as Black Lotus Brewing Company and Royal Kubo. Cutting down the road to three lanes is also expected to make the area more pedestrian friendly by slowing down traffic and offering more room to walk.
The road diet returns the corridor to its original state before it was changed to the five-lane suburban style in 1978 to facilitate primarily motorized traffic, which Schutt calls "a development hiccup." That decision played a key part in the future of the downtown area that had been bustling for decades.
"They removed the on-street parking and downtown went into a tail spin," says Richard Haberman, Clawson's city manager. "One of the things the businesses have been asking since then is, 'When are you going to bring on-street parking back?'"
Right now the return to the traditional downtown street design is just $700 in new parking space stripping. However, if shrinking Main proves successful, the city will look into reconfiguring the corridor significantly within the next five years. Think downtown Ann Arbor's Main Street with enlarged sidewalks, decorative lighting, fresh landscaping, angled parking and a European designed bike lane that is built into the sidewalk between on-street parking spaces and the main pedestrian path. The city is also looking at doing a similar project along 14 Mile.
This summer the city is taking the big baby step of putting Main Street on a road diet. It's also rebuilding a surface parking lot at Main and 14 Mile, adding new lighting, landscaping and reconfiguring it to make it easier for motorists to use. The city has also revamped its ordinances in downtown to promote urban design, such as building up to the lot line.
City officials and local residents, businesses and developers will meet in the second week of August to discuss the changes and plan for future development. For information, call (248) 332-0326.
Source: Debbie Schutt, the director of the Clawson Downtown Development Authority and Clawson City Manager Richard Haberman
Writer: Jon Zemke