Construction begins on Kalamazoo Avenue in mid-July, and it is bigger than a road project.
The City of Kalamazoo held an informational meeting for residents and businesses along the corridor. Public Services Director James Baker and Deputy Director of Community Planning and Economic Development Christina Anderson led the presentation, joined by staff from Consumers Energy, the city’s Economic Development team, and construction consultants. Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess, Commissioner Chris Praedel, and Mayor David Anderson attended.
The meeting covered scope, timeline, traffic management, business support, and what the street will look like when the work is done. Public Media Network recorded the full meeting; watch it with chapter indexing.
Why this is happening now
Kalamazoo Avenue and the surrounding downtown street network were reconfigured in the 1960s to move cars as fast as possible — wide one-way streets designed to highway standards, running through the middle of neighborhoods and past people’s front doors. The city gained ownership of those streets in 2019 and has been planning their transformation ever since.
The result is the Streets for All initiative: a multi-year, federally funded reconstruction that converts the one-way loop into a two-way street network, narrows the highway-scale intersections, and redesigns the streets to slow traffic and prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and neighborhood connectivity.
Kalamazoo Avenue is where the construction starts this summer.
What’s actually being rebuilt
This is a complete reconstruction — not a resurfacing. Everything from building face to building face is coming out and being replaced: water mains (some in the ground since the 1890s, the newest from the 1930s), storm sewers, curb and gutter, sidewalks. Consumers Energy is burying overhead utility lines underground as part of the same project, along with fiber optic and telecommunications infrastructure.
New street trees will be planted using cellular root boxes designed to prevent soil compaction — an approach intended to produce longer-lasting, healthier trees than typical urban street plantings. New pedestrian-scale lighting and updated traffic signals are also part of the project.
The finished street will be two-way, with two westbound lanes, one eastbound lane, a center turn lane, and on-street parking maintained on both sides.
The construction timeline
Work begins around July 15, starting in the section between Park Street and Westnedge — which is also being coordinated with ongoing arena construction in that area. From there, the project moves east with a goal of reaching Edwards Street by fall.
By 2028, while construction continues in the Stuart neighborhood section of Kalamazoo Avenue and on Michigan Avenue, the completed sections will all be open to two-way traffic.
The full project runs through approximately 2030.
Getting around during construction
At least one lane of Kalamazoo Avenue will remain open throughout construction; the goal is to maintain two lanes where possible. The city has invested in North Street and Ransom Street in recent years specifically to support them as alternate routes, and both are well-suited to carry additional traffic.
The city is also installing speed bumps, stop signs, and rectangular flashing beacons on residential streets between Michigan Avenue and Kalamazoo Avenue to manage cut-through traffic in neighborhoods.
Kalamazoo Avenue’s conversion to two-way traffic will not happen until construction on the corridor is complete.
What businesses should know
A business toolkit is available from the city’s Economic Development team — Erin Hahn is the contact — and includes resources like voicemail scripts, reservation reminder language, employee parking guidance, and customer-facing maps. The city’s downtown coordinator is also adding a second staff member focused specifically on communications and business support starting July 6.
During the Q&A, a downtown business owner described the cumulative pressure on corridor businesses — coming out of COVID, navigating an uncertain economy, and now absorbing years of construction impact while continuing to invest in staying open. The city’s downtown coordinator acknowledged the assessment directly, affirmed that construction and branding efforts are coordinated rather than siloed, and said there is more work ahead to strengthen that collaboration.
The city’s goal, as Baker framed it: downtown remains open during construction, and the investment being made now is the foundation for what comes after.
For questions, the city has set up inquiry channels and an answering service for urgent requests. Watch the full meeting for details on specific streets, parking, traffic signals, and the Q&A with residents and business owners.
