GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Two busy Michigan Street crossings in Grand Rapids are getting flashing crosswalk beacons before the holidays.
The Michigan Street Corridor Improvement Authority has set aside as much as $75,000 to expand a grant-funded safety effort run by the Mobile GR department. The beacons are planned for the Houseman Avenue and Grand Avenue intersections.
The authority board also put money toward curb extensions, which push the sidewalk out into the roadway so people on foot have a shorter distance to cover and drivers can see them sooner.
Merchants along the strip say the corridor has grown busier with restaurants, bars and parking, and that people on foot often have to dodge traffic. One shop owner said he has seen pedestrians struck and many near misses in four years of business near the Houseman crossing.
Construction is expected to start within a couple of weeks, and the city wants the beacons running by Thanksgiving.
The Michigan Street work comes on top of a separate citywide program. A city mailer from 2025 lists fourteen pedestrian-activated crossing beacons planned near schools, transit stops, parks, trails and grocery stores, with tentative construction from spring to fall 2026.
Filed under: Grand Rapids MI Neighborhood News
