Ottawa County Road infrastructure (Or lack thereof) (Detroit, Allendale: neighborhoods, construction)

[mjlo]

So I was in GR this weekend and had to traverse through Ottawa County and I found myself quite annoyed at the inadequacies of infrastructure in it. There are NO north south connectors in the county. You have US-31 along the Lakeshore which is brutal, and I know they are making some kind of small bypass around GHaven. I really think for as populated as the Lakeshore is there should really be some kind of limited access freeway connecting 1-196 to I-96 that starts somewhere around the Byron Rd exit and terminates where the hokey two lane bypass will be near Nunica. Also in the western GR burbs it is also very complicated to get between north and south. I know the river complicates things, but we are talking about the second most populated county on the western side of MI(8th in State) and it's growing and a rapid pace.

I know talking about building roads and freeways is tantamount to racial epithets on a forum about cities. But you don't even have enough of a grid to put in mass transit I am a nerd, and I think about things that no one cares about so I wouldn't be surprised if no one cared to have an opinion on this one. Does anyone know if there are any plans to improve the ability to get around there? I know the state decided decades ago to pretty much not expand lane miles on this side of Michigan. GR has some of the hokiest freeways and interchanges for a city it's size IMO. But that's how Michigan did everything outside of Detroit.

[detwahDJ]

It's the Grand River - at least in part. Crossing is either in Grand Haven or miles upriver at Eastmanville, then M-45 near GVSU, and that's it - actually only two viable places to cross!
Along with the US-31 drawbridge, these places become bottlenecks which everyone must flock to at certain times creating nice backups. Guess bridges are expensive to construct.

[allbusiness]

This is a pretty good synopsis of the history, present construction and future plans for the area.

Michigan Highways: In Depth: US-31 Freeway in Ottawa County

[mjlo]

So do you really think the 31 By-pass after 231 will ever actually be complete? Also there is no direct way to get to Allendale from the north or south you have to take a bunch of zig zaggy streets. Will the eastern side of the county ever be on a more connected grid?

[michigan83]

Originally Posted by mjlo

So do you really think the 31 By-pass after 231 will ever actually be complete? Also there is no direct way to get to Allendale from the north or south you have to take a bunch of zig zaggy streets. Will the eastern side of the county ever be on a more connected grid?

I agree with your assessment of Ottawa County in general. There actually is a direct route into Allendale from the north... you can take 68th avenue from I-96 all the way to Allendale.

The best way that I have found to get from I-96 to I-196 is to take 68th avenue south to Fillmore, jog over to the west a 1/2 mile, and then take 72nd south to Chicago Dr. That gets you pretty close to the Zeeland exit on I-196. This route seems to go the fastest and has the fewest stop signs and traffic lights. Still not great, but it works.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by michigan83

I agree with your assessment of Ottawa County in general. There actually is a direct route into Allendale from the north... you can take 68th avenue from I-96 all the way to Allendale.

The best way that I have found to get from I-96 to I-196 is to take 68th avenue south to Fillmore, jog over to the west a 1/2 mile, and then take 72nd south to Chicago Dr. That gets you pretty close to the Zeeland exit on I-196. This route seems to go the fastest and has the fewest stop signs and traffic lights. Still not great, but it works.

I'm just saying for a county that will mostly cross the 300,000 people mark before 2020, It has a noticeably underdeveloped infrastructure. It will remain the fastest growing, (top 3 at least) county in the state. At some point if they don't upgrade soon, it's going to be down right dangerous with the current capacity over loaded.

[detwahDJ]

Google maps is showing the M-231 overpass construction site.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0400.../data=!3m1!1e3

Looks to me like hooking up with M-104/I-96 could create some nice traffic snarls in the future. IMO it's interesting to view the terrain it will cross going south to M-45 - some bucolic neighborhoods will soon become noisier.

[mjlo]

Thought I'd revisit this thread since it came up in another post. The 231 By-pass has been open for over a year now. It's definitely getting busier(I take it almost every day) You can tell they made it with the thought of eventually turning into a full limited access freeway at some point. I just wish they had actual plans to do it at some point in the future.