KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Orange construction barrels and blocked roads in downtown Kalamazoo have been part of drivers’ daily commute for months, and for people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods, it’s been hard to get around.
“One day, you’re going to sleep, thinking about going to the grocery store the next day. Wake up and your entire neighborhood is in pieces,” Joshua Gadelkarim, who lives in the Allen Boulevard neighborhood, said.
QR codes in downtown Grand Rapids ask, ‘What do you want here?’
Last summer, Gadelkarim said, it was a simple drive to places like the grocery store or restaurants on West Main Street. Now, closures on North Park Street and Eleanor Street have him adding time to his drive — he has to go several blocks in the opposite direction to get to a detour.
“Everyone trying to get to West Main has to turn in front of the Radisson. The people trying to get to the Radisson … they are trying to get where they are going and we trying to get where we are going which leads to bigger traffic issues,” he said.
ROAD WORK BLENDS INTO PREP WORK
Some of the roadwork projects around Gadelkarim’s neighborhood are part of the prep work for a new $300 million event center . City of Kalamazoo Public Works Manager and traffic engineer Dennis Randolph said some of the construction crews are swapping out aging water, storm and sewer systems that developers need to upgrade to support the 320,000-square-foot facility …