The Chamber

The Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce supports obtaining the necessary funding to finish widening Interstate 94 from 4 to 6 lanes. The funding should, over the next few years, come directly from local, state, and federal sources to finish the widening from 12th Street to Sprinkle Road in Kalamazoo County. Funding sources need to be identified now so that we can alleviate the bottleneck that is impacting this portion of the highway.

I-94 has been recognized as a major route of trade and commerce throughout the state of Michigan. I-94 serves as the transportation corridor for 8 major metro areas in Michigan and it provides highway access to more than 3.1 million residents in these communities (31.3 percent of Michigan's population.) I-94 is a key link between Detroit and Chicago and is also a central link for the NAFTA corridor. Almost 10 percent of our nation's exports come from Detroit and the surrounding metropolitan areas, linked by I-94.

The Michigan Department of Transportation has predicted serious issues will arise in the next few years if a long-term solution is not implemented. There are several reasons for this problem:

• Capacity Ratios - The highway has exceeded its acceptable capacity ratio. On 2-lane segments, Monday through Friday the volume versus capacity ratio is 0.8 for 3 hours a day (more than 0.8 is considered congested and will cause traffic slow-downs and backups.) In contrast, with 3 lanes Monday through Friday, the volume capacity ratio at its very highest is 0.61.
• Level of Service - For 2 lanes on Monday through Friday, the level of service drops to a D for 3 hours a day (this level and below is considered congested and causes slow downs and back ups to occur.) In comparison, for 3 lanes, the level of service never drops below A in the entire 7-day analysis.
• Safety - Because stage 1 of the widening is already complete, some new problems have arisen in terms of safety. By not getting the funding and completing stages 2 and 3, there are areas where three lanes reduce to two lanes (choke points), and there is an anticipated 30 percent increase in rear-end and side-swipe crashes.

I-94 is important to business and trade. I-94 has been recognized as part of the NAFTA corridor and, as such, the Detroit/Windsor border crossings handle more than one-third of all trade volume between the U.S. and Canada, and the largest part of the Mexican-Canadian trade as well. Without relieving the current congestion on I-94, the vital flow of this trade could be jeopardized.

Securing the funding for the project is a challenge. Stage one of the widening cost $87.2 million from a variety of sources: the majority from the Federal Highway Administration, matching funds from MDOT, and the rest from local municipalities. The cost to finish the final two stages of the project is approximately $140 million.