By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Hamburg Township officials are asking for a study to be done that could lead to one of their more dangerous intersections becoming safer.

Police Chief and Director of Public Safety Services Richard Duffany told the Hamburg Township Board of Trustees, Tuesday night, that multiple residents have expressed concerns about the number of traffic accidents occurring at M-36 and Lake Crest Drive. Duffany said he has recently gone through the department records for the past decade at that intersection. Going back to 2012 there have been 26 crashes, with an overwhelming majority being left-turn related. Duffany said it seems to be getting slightly worse, too, with 11 of those occurring since the latter half of 2018.

Duffany said he is not sure if there is room, but believes it is worth asking the Michigan Department of Transportation to do a study and see if a center turn lane is feasible there. Without one, that area has grown notorious for back-ups and people driving on the shoulder. The Chief gave an example of what a driver trying to turn left there might be thinking, in how they might recognize they are causing a back-up and angering people, so then they may try to take a turn that they would normally wait for.

Trustee Cindy Michniewicz said her husband was in an accident there 25 years ago, and Supervisor Pat Hohl shared that there have been 2 fatalities since 1984 at that location.

Duffany said that a crash there will close down M-36 for about an hour and there is no fast way to get around that vital stretch of road.

Hohl said he had talked with MDOT’s Brighton Transportation Center and their preference would be to perform a site study and then a warrant study to determine if a center lane is needed. The Board of Trustees unanimously passed a motion for a resolution requesting that of MDOT.

Photo - Courtesy of Google Street View