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What a section of Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor could look like with 11-foot-wide travel lanes and a 44-foot-wide center median. The ReImagine Washtenaw plan suggests the wide median could improve traffic flow through use of indirect left turns ("Michigan lefts") and accommodate the turning movements of larger vehicles while increasing safety for pedestrian crossings.

(Courtesy of ReImagine Washtenaw)

The Ann Arbor City Council will decide Tuesday night whether to formally endorse a plan to transform the Washtenaw Avenue corridor over a period of several years.

The council is being asked to approve a resolution in support of the recommendations from the ReImagine Washtenaw Corridor Improvement Study.

The Ann Arbor Planning Commission already voted 7-0 in December to add the 2014 Reimagine Washtenaw report to its official list of planning documents to be used as a resource in support of the city's Master Plan. The commission also recommended the City Council approve a resolution in support of the report.

The 210-page ReImagine Washtenaw report was released in May 2014 following a public process that involved rethinking the congested corridor, taking a comprehensive look at a five-mile stretch from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti.

The report outlines a vision for safer pedestrian crossings, faster transit service, buffered bicycle lanes, median boulevards, an improved sidewalk network, and new mixed-use development along the corridor.

The plan is to transform the roadway into a more pedestrian-friendly, bikeable thoroughfare using a "Complete Streets" approach with all users in mind. The report also outlines a vision for making it a true transit-oriented corridor with transit "super stops" that would provide enhanced amenities for bus riders.

Transit signal priority, queue jumps and transit-only lanes also are proposed solutions to improve reliability of the bus service and increase ridership.

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority already has budgeted for the construction of at least one of the super stops in the near future, Wendy Rampson, the city's planning manager, noted in a new memo to the City Council.

Rampson said the Michigan Department of Transportation wants the four participating communities (the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and the townships of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti) to endorse the ReImagine Washtenaw report.

"This cooperative effort will encourage MDOT to support future planning and street enhancement initiatives in the corridor," Rampson wrote in the memo, noting the other three community recently approved resolutions of support.

The resolutions acknowledge that more detailed analysis will be required, as well as coordination with MDOT, to implement all of the report's recommendations.

Some residents in Ann Arbor are raising concerns about the ReImagine Washtenaw vision, calling it a far-reaching plan.

Peter Eckstein, a representative of Washtenaw Avenue Concerned Citizens, shared his group's 13-page critique this week, arguing the ReImagine Washtenaw plan doesn't seem to be focused on making the avenue more drivable.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. inside the council chambers on the second floor of city hall, 301 E. Huron St. View the full meeting agenda.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com or 734-623-2529 or follow him on Twitter.