The shape they're in

An audit of Lansing sidewalks to provide extensive data for city, be a catalyst for grants

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“Heave with a tree,” Josh Lavigne said to T.J. James while walking north on a sidewalk on Sycamore Street.

“What do I put for this?” James asked Lavigne a few feet farther.

“Oh, just put ‘cracked’ or ‘potholed,’” he replied.

James, a 32-year-old auditor for Jackson National Life, and Lavigne, a 27-year-old University of Michigan urban planning student, were walking the Genesee Neighborhood just north of downtown Lansing Saturday. A “heave with a tree” means a portion of sidewalk is distorted likely because of the roots underneath.

James and Lavigne were volunteering for an effort launched by AARP Michigan to audit about 760 miles of sidewalks in Lansing. The goal is to inventory every sidewalk and intersection in the city to figure out what needs improvement. That data will be leveraged for potential grants to help pay for fixes.

Volunteers have completed nearly 20 percent of the “walkability audit,” which began informally last summer. Organizers hope to complete all of Lansing by October, said Karen Kafantaris, associate state director for AARP Michigan.

Because the city is not flush with money to make sidewalk infrastructure improvements — the Lansing City Council adopted a fiscal year 2012 budget Monday that calls for eliminating the “sidewalk gap” program and “most routine sidewalk maintenance” — results of the data will be compiled by Western Michigan University and handed to the city as a sort of tool when applying for federal and state grants, Kafantaris said.

“The (Lansing) transportation department said it would be a good project,” she said. “They hadn’t done an audit of what they have. They know there are problems, but not necessarily where they are.”

Kafantaris said the spirit of the project is in line with Lansing’s “Complete Streets” ordinance that the City Council adopted in August 2009, the first Michigan municipality to enact such an ordinance. Complete streets policies commit municipalities to consider all forms of transportation — non-motorized and motorized — when planning infrastructure improvements.

Jen McMillon, who helped coordinate Saturday’s audit, is an AmeriCorps volunteer and also does work for the Mid-Michigan Environmental Action Council.

“Part of what we’re doing is getting very specific data of where problem areas are,” she said, adding that for the city to do this type of work on its own is “expensive” and time-consuming. “We can hand the report to the city so they can pursue and expedite the (grant) process.”

The audit includes more than 60 sections of Lansing and each section of blocks takes one to two hours, McMillon said. It’s a partnership between the city, Mid-MEAC, AARP and the Lansing Walking and Bicycling Task Force.

McMillon, a 24-year-old Battle Creek native who recently graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in environmental studies and agriscience, said about 10 percent of sidewalks were audited last year. So what have they found so far?

“We’re finding that even busy places don’t have complete sidewalks — it’s literally a dirt path,” she said. On top of that, some ramps that lead down into the street from the sidewalk are too steep, crosswalk buttons are out of reach for those in wheelchairs and some crosswalk lights aren’t long enough.

“Take Oakland (Avenue) and Saginaw (Street) intersections. For someone in their 20s, it’s not a problem to cross. For the elderly or disabled, it’s a problem,” she said. “We’re hoping to eliminate all of these things and get funding. So when gas actually does reach $5 a gallon, we’ll be ready.”

Starting June 7 and for the rest of the summer, volunteers will get together every Tuesday to scour Lansing sidewalks. Or they can do it on their own time, Kafantaris said.

“We ask for a lot of information. We want a good report,” she said. “It definitely takes longer than you think.”

Lavigne, who lives in Delta Township and is working on completing his master’s in urban planning, agrees.

“Engineers will have high quality data. You don’t get anything done without high quality data,” he said. “I was actually anticipating something a little less in-depth.”

On Saturday, Lavigne was responsible for intersections, taking inventory of crosswalks, and areas where the sidewalk meets the road. He covered 12 intersections between Sycamore Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in just under two hours. His work was a combination of writing notes, filling in a checklist and sketching intersections.

“It’s an ambitious project,” he said.

McMillon, of AmeriCorps, said the goal of the audit is to “create a template for other communities” on non-motorized transportation infrastructure.

When asked if a lack of funding to potentially make these improvements is discouraging, McMillon nodded in affirmation. But that just means cities like Lansing will have to get creative.

“I think people don’t know all the options out there,” she said, referring to various federal and state grants. “I think people have low faith when it comes to that.”

But aren’t grants competitive and not guaranteed? 

“At least we’ll have the data,” she said. “Federal funding is available, but that’s needs-based. You can’t just tell them there’s a need — you need numbers.”

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