Traffic Study: New McDonald's 'Will Not Have Adverse Impact' On Traffic

A study to analyze traffic patterns around the proposed on Detroit Avenue is completed.

The study — conducted by Akron-based GPD Group and paid for by McDonald’s — makes a few key recommendations that include tearing up a crosswalk and removing a traffic signal.

According to the study, the current and projected traffic flow at the intersection of Detroit and Hall avenues does not warrant a traffic light, but a stop sign. The crosswalk on the west side of the Hall Avenue and Detroit Avenue intersection, which will impede one of proposed driveways, is recommended to be removed.

"The general lack of crashes at the Detroit Avenue/Hall Avenue and Detroit Avenue/Woodward Avenue is a clear indication of how efficiently traffic is flowing through the study area," the report said.

The new McDonald's will generate about 450 total new travelers during the morning and evening rush hours, the study said.

That does not include impulse customers who stop on their way to another destination.

The call for the demolition of the building that housed the Detroit Theatre, and the Golden Arches planted in its place at 16409 Detroit Ave.

That doesn’t sit well with neighboring residents who fear the increase in traffic, who have been showing up at city council meetings and working to do a study of their own.

“I’m four houses down on Woodward, and I can’t get out of my drive way as it is,” said Lisa Blackburn, 4240 Woodward Ave., at a Architectural Board of Review meeting. "How are we going to get out once this place opens?"

The McDonald’s study looked at the traffic patterns in the immediate vicinity of the proposed fast-food restaurant: Detroit, Woodward, Edwards and Hall avenues.