Residents successfully lobby M-DOT to switch traffic signal

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – M-DOT seems to have conceded a battle it had with Kalamazoo Township residents over a traffic light.

In the spring, a traffic signal at the corner of West Main Street and Fletcher Avenue in the township was switched to a flashing yellow. That move didn't sit well with people living in the area who had seen too many accidents, and too much high-speed traffic. Those people took their concerns to M-DOT, and they were heard.

It's a story of everyday people versus big government over something as small as a stop light, and in this case, the people won.

“We'd like to thank the Michigan Department of Transportation because they handled this very professionally,” said Fred Sitkins.

“We're really excited,” said Dan Drake, “I know all the residents, I've received a lot of emails and we're really excited about it.”

The lights are a changing, thanks to Sitkins and Drake, the two men, along with dozens of other people living near Fletcher and West Main fought M-DOT when the agency changed the light there to a flashing yellow. It's an intersection that some living nearby felt was already treacherous.

“I live right on West Main,” said Sitkins, “and it's very difficult for me to make a left turn out of my driveway.”

“It was more difficult at times to turn left,” said Drake, “we noticed that the speed of traffic on West Main had increased quite a bit.”

When Newschannel 3 covered in May, we had everyone from drivers to the blind complaining about not being able to cross West Main with just a caution signal.

Elaine Mueller even referred to herself as a prisoner of M-DOT and Sitkins said accidents were bad enough even before the light changed.

“Every time an accident happened and I called 911 their response was 'what happened in front of your house today Mr. Sitkins?'” said Sitkins.

When the light started flashing yellow, people started mobilizing and fought to get the full signal back. Now the signal has been returned to regular duty with M-DOT changing it back. While traffic is still heavy on West Main, many feel it's being managed just a bit better thanks to their efforts.

“You feel like you're fighting big government, you find out if you get people together and you have a purpose in mind you can accomplish things, so it was great,” said Drake.

“I guess the primary reaction is you can have your complaints heard by those who make the decision,” said Sitkins.

When M-DOT changed the signal to a flashing yellow they said that the traffic level on West Main didn't warrant a full signal, but apparently the lobbying by the public changed their mind.