T H E G R A N D R A P I D S P R ES S
SU N DAY, F E B RUA RY 1 2 , 2 0 17
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Huizenga will try ‘tele-hall’ again He will hold in-person meetings, phone-in sessions. Mark Tower mtower@mlive.com WA S H I N G T O N — A West Michigan con-
The intersection of 44th Street and Eastern Avenue SE in Grand Rapids in January. MLive.com files
GETTING AROUND
BOUNDARIES
The intersection marks the border between three municipalities, with Grand Rapids to the northeast, Kentwood to the south and Wyoming to the northwest. On Jan. 9, 2015, four crashes occurred at the intersection in a slippery four-hour span from 2:20 p.m. to 6:36 p.m. — but they were split between two police agencies. Kentwood Police are responsible for all of the intersection except for the northeast corner, which belongs to the Grand Rapids Police Department. But the strict boundary lines don’t apply to snowplows. Eastern north of 44th is in Grand Rapids, but its plows don’t clear the snow there. Grand Rapids has a “border agreement” for that area — which means Kentwood plows clear Eastern between 40th and 44th. For Kentwood, 44th and Eastern is one of
CITY CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS
Kalamazoo Ave.
In January 2015, a Grand Rapids police officer nearly fell when getting out of his car to investigate a crash, and in February 2013 a Grand Rapids police officer responding to a spin-out on 44th just east of Eastern nearly got into an accident himself. The intersection was even too slick for a tow truck in December 2013, as a right turn from 44th to Eastern sent the truck sliding into the median, breaking a sign. The intersection saw 68 crashes in snow and ice from 2012 to 2016, according to Michigan State Police, the most in the state.
Highest crash intersection in ice and snow in the state during the last five years
the first intersections to be plowed, said Jim Wolford, Kentwood’s public works supervisor. “They’re the first priorities when it starts snowing before we move to the connectors and then the local streets,” Wolford said. The west side of the intersection is handled by Wyoming, but Kentwood and Wyoming have an unspoken agreement. “It’s a mutual thing,” Wolford said. “... We work together as an unwritten rule — you take care of the neighboring community.” Wolford said Kentwood plows maintain the intersection as carefully as they maintain 52nd and Eastern or Kalamazoo and 44th. “We maintain Eastern from just north of 44th to 60th,” Wolford said. “Because it’s a border street, we overlap on Eastern into a little of Wyoming and come back.” The western and southern legs of the intersection are cleared by the city of Wyoming. FENDER BENDERS
Eastern Ave.
68 CRASHES IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS
Division Ave.
If you safely drive 44th Street SE through the intersection of Eastern Avenue during the winter, you can say you’ve survived the slickest intersection in Kent County. The intersection had the third-highest number of crashes in ice and snow in the state in 2016 — and had the most crashes in all of Michigan in those conditions throughout the past five years. The crossing on the busy east-west 44th Street corridor that links the Gerald R. Ford International Airport to U.S. 131 is one of the first priorities to be cleared in the wintertime, according to public works officials. And overall, 44th and Eastern isn’t a highcrash intersection, Kentwood Police Chief Tom Hillen said. “When the pavement is dry, this isn’t the highest (crash) intersection by far,” Hillen said. But what makes it so slippery in the winter? It’s hard to tell. There isn’t one authority over what happens there — two road crews are responsible for its conditions, and a different pair of police agencies respond to crashes. And a third municipality is responsible for managing the traffic signal. Plus, crashes at 44th and Eastern tend to be minor, moving it far down the priority list for engineers and authorities.
Jefferson Ave.
By Amy Biolchini amy_biolchini@mlive.com
CITY Y OF WYOMING OMING
36th St.
44th St. Clay Ave.
Kent County has state’s most dangerous intersection in snow and ice.
131
Buchanan Ave.
Watch out in winter
28th St.
Though 44th and Eastern tops of the list for wintery crashes in Kent County, it’s not a deadly corner. No one was injured during crashes at the intersection on icy and snowy roads in 2015, 2014 or 2013, according to incident reports. Reports from 2016 were not yet available. Most of the crashes involved a driver unable to stop in time for a light or for the car in front of them — resulting in drivers sliding through the intersection and into other cars, poles or the median. “I would wonder if the yellow on the signal is long enough — sometimes there’s a shorter yellow cycle,” Kentwood city engineer Tim Bradshaw said. The intersection sees high volumes of cars, as it links the airport to U.S. 131 and has the Steelcase headquarters on one corner. About 31,000 vehicles traveled on the four-lane, divided 44th Street east of Eastern daily in 2015, according to the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council. That’s compared to 24,300 vehicles daily on 44th Street west of Eastern. Eastern is less traveled, but still busy. About 17,300 vehicles drive Eastern north of 44th, and 15,700 vehicles travel Eastern south of 44th. The intersection is in Kentwood, but Grand Rapids has been in charge of studying and maintaining traffic signals for several decades, as the larger department helps smaller communities and bills them for services. “When we get our crash data, we try and take a look at outlying locations that have some increased crash histories and try to turn those into grant opportunities,” Bradshaw said. “With the funding perspective, accidents have to occur for funding. There hasn’t been any activity recently.” Fender-benders tend not to draw much attention. “In the overall scheme of things, these low-severity, rear-end type crashes are less
CITY OF KENTWOOD
52nd St.
Winter’s worst Kent County had 14 intersections among the top 50 most dangerous statewide in winter conditions, according to Michigan State Police. These are Kent County’s five most dangerous intersections on that list. See more at bit.ly/MiWinterCrashes 1. 44th Street SE/Eastern Avenue: 68 crashes; No. 1 in state 2. 44th Street SW/Byron Center Avenue: 57 crashes, No. 3 in state 3. 44th Street SE/Breton Road SE: 53 crashes, No. 6 in state 4. 28th Street SE/Breton Road: 40 crashes, No. 15 in state 5. 36th Street/South Division Avenue: 37 crashes, No. 16 in state
concerning than head-on left turn crashes,” said Chris Zull, the city of Grand Rapids’ utility system manager. FIXING AN INTERSECTION
Changes to another 44th Street intersection seem to have made a difference. 44th and Byron Center Road was one of Wyoming’s most crash-prone intersections, said Russ Henckel, Wyoming assistant director of public works. It is one of the major intersections in a busy area that includes Rivertown Mall and multiple strip malls. “We had a focused effort on doing some improvements to improve progression through the intersection,” Henckel said. “A lot of crashes were rear-ending with people not realizing it in time.” In the winter, however, the intersection particularly stood out. Officials noticed it iced up before other intersections, and car crashes stacked up there when there weren’t issues elsewhere. Henckel said road crews became more proactive. “ We’d salt that intersection right as it started and even before — wouldn’t wait until we’re doing all the streets — we’d be doing that one first,” he said. Signal timing was updated, and the timing of the left-turn signal was changed to allow left turns after the green light instead of before. Pushbutton activated pedestrian crossings were added. Police also increased their patrols so drivers were forced to pay attention. For now, the efforts appear to have paid off. There were no crashes reported during icy and snowy conditions in 2016 and 2015, compared to 34 crashes in 2014 and 11 crashes in 2013.
gressman who came under fire this week after some residents were unable to participate in a “telephone town hall” call arranged by his office will try again. U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, said a number of constituents who submitted cell phone numbers were removed from the call list by the company that facilitates the program. In response, Huizenga promised to schedule in-person town hall sessions in his district and to give constituents another chance to discuss issues with him over the phone. “I sincerely apologize to those of you who waited for a call last night that never came,” Huizenga said in a Facebook post Wednesday, the day after the incident. “I truly appreciate your willingness to engage in the democratic process and participate in a tele-town hall.” In that post, he promised to host a second pair of telephone town halls, at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Wednesday, aimed at those unable to participate last week: To participate in the calls last Tuesday, residents were asked to fill out a “Stay in Touch” form on Huizenga’s website that sought their name, email, phone number and home address. The company screened out anyone with an address not within the congressman’s district and prepared call lists of up to 30,000 for each of the two calls Tuesday. But, Huizenga said, the company also “mistakenly removed a number of” cell phone numbers from the list. He said the company removed the numbers “without my knowledge” to steer clear of violations of the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act and through guidance from the Federal Communications Commission. Huizenga said he asked the company not to remove cell phone numbers of residents of his congressional district who sign up to participate in the telephone town halls. “This should not have happened,” he said. “In an age where cell phones are equal to if not more prevalent than ‘land lines,’ this policy doesn’t make sense, and I have asked that they do not apply this policy to residents of the Second District who sign up to participate in a telephone town hall.” In his post, Huizenga points out the telephone town halls only are available to residents of his 2nd Congressional District. IN-PERSON MEETINGS AHEAD
Huizenga also is planning two face-toface meetings with constituents. One, which has been on the books for weeks, is in Lake County as part of a snowmobile tour Huizenga plans to take with U.S. Reps. Jack Bergman, R-Calumet, and John Moolenaar, R-Midland. The congressman’s office announced last week that Huizenga will hold a town hall meeting in early March in the district’s southern end, where the largest population centers are located. His office has not yet identified a location or date for that meeting. Huizenga has faced criticism recently for stances he has taken in connection to the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration and for the lack of face-toface meetings with constituents since the start of his most recent term in Congress. Last week, a group staged a protest in front of his district office in Grandville. Those gathering outside the office, brought inside in shifts to meet with the congressman’s staff, expressed concern about issues ranging from immigration issues to the nomination of West Michigan’s own Betsy DeVos as Trump’s new education secretary. Many focused on Huizenga’s support of Trump’s controversial travel ban. Huizenga was reelected in November to a fourth term in Congress. His district includes portions of Allegan, Kent and Mason counties and the entirety of Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon and Ottawa counties.
Online Huizenga posted links to audio recordings of the two sessions held Tuesday for those who were unable to call in. The 7 p.m. session is at bit.ly/HuizCall7, and the 8 p.m. session is at bit.ly/HuizCall8.