BLENDON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Lisa Kalsbeek lives and works near the intersection of Port Sheldon Street and 48th Avenue. She said whenever she hears the fire trucks go by, she knows something awful happened at that intersection.
“The fire department goes past our house often,” Kalsbeek said during an interview with FOX 17 in mid-August. “I hear them screeching around the corner and I know there’s going to be a bad accident and they’re going to have to take someone to Helen DeVos or to Zeeland hospitals.”
Pastor Gary Jarvis said the intersection is “tenuous.” His church, South Blendon Reformed Church, is located near it. He’s been there for over six years and said you have to be careful driving through it during certain times of the day.
“I’ve heard stories of before, but a lot of accidents,” Pastor Jarvis said. “We hear a lot in the office, sometimes from the house. They’ve been that bad.”
So Kalsbeek, who has children that go to school in the area, started a petition in August to get a timed left light installed.
“There’s a lot of traffic and main traffic heading north, south, east, and west, and not enough lane space for people turning left, and not a specific left turn arrow for people to safely turn left.” she said.
In the first few days of creating the petition, she had 2,200 signatures. By the end of the first week, it grew to 2,300.
Pastor Jarvis supported it.
“I like the idea. You know, coming back especially from 48th and trying to turn left, that’s what I’m normally doing and my kids are normally doing,” he said. “You do have to wait quite a while and you have to time it sometimes on a yellow and that can get dangerous. You don’t know if that car going south is going to run the red [light] or not. So, certain times of day, it’s pretty tenuous.”
Kalsbeek said she started the petition after reaching out to the Ottawa County Road Commission, and felt like to she “got nowhere.”
FOX 17 also reached out to the commission, who said that they conducted an assessment of the intersection in 2018.
“We studied the intersection in 2018 and based on that study, left turn signals were not warranted,” said Fred Keena, traffic engineer with the road commission. “We received a call from what I’m assuming is the same person, earlier this year. Based on her requests, we indicated that we would conduct a study as scheduling permits.”
Keena said in fact they’re conducting an assessment of the intersection now. They began first by going to the intersection and manually counting the cars and where they were turning.
“We look at backup and delay of the left turn movement, if there’s any cycles of the signals where they’re not getting all through,” Keena said. “Then we look at crash history involving left turn motorists.”
Through a Freedom Of Information Act request, FOX 17 learned that from August 2021 to August 2022, crashes at the intersection have doubled from 5 to 10. Three of them resulted in injuries.
FOX 17 also discovered through the Census data that the population in Ottawa County grew by 12 percent from 2010 to 2020.
The increase is a factor that they’re taking into account during this current assessment, he said.
“I think one of the problems with this intersection is there is a lot of, you know our church is a part of it, but with the gas station and our church, there’s a lot of driveways coming in and out,“ said Pastor Jarvis. “The speed limit is 55. That might be something that could be changed. You know, bring it down to 45.”
FOX 17 drove through the intersection and down 48th Street, toward M-45, and noticed that there was no speed limit sign near the intersection. One was spotted a few minutes away.
Kalsbeek said the closest speed limit sign is posted five minutes away from the intersection, near Bauer Road.
“Setting speed limits is a whole different discussion,” Keena said. “There’s lots involved with that. It includes the state police. So, it’s not an easy solution just to put up speed limit signs. So that is something else we could look at, but that’s a whole other process.”
He said they’re also looking at roundabouts. One was constructed in Coopersville and they’re looking at possibly building more elsewhere in the county.
However, putting up a timed light has its advantages and disadvantages.
“It depends on the situation. Sometimes, left turn arrows are helpful, especially for the left-turning motorists. But other times it causes delays and backups for the other directions at the intersection,” Keena said. “So, we have to be very judicious in where we install those so we’re not creating more of a problem that’s already there.”
As for Kalsbeek, she's hoping to gather more signatures. She’s determined to do something about the intersection.
“I own a small business. I know what it is to have policy and procedure. I don’t want my nine employees getting hit. I don’t want my five kids to get killed in this corner,” Kalsbeek said. “I feel like it’s definitely an issue. They told me by putting a turn light there might be more accidents, but by not doing it you’re causing more trouble the way it is. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation. You need to make a change eventually.”
