The city of East Lansing and surrounding areas are beginning efforts to make the Northern Tier community safer for pedestrians and residents, starting with street lights.
Lights were constructed along the stretch of Abbott Road between Lake Lansing Road and the Clinton County line last month and were turned on over the weekend, East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said.
Staton said the new street lights were part of a plan to increase safety on the roadway ever since the land north of Lake Lansing Road came into the city.
Staton stressed the importance of the lights and wondered when they will be added north of Clinton County.
"The volume of traffic out there just requires it," he said.
Two female MSU students were hit by a car in the area, one of them killed, while walking along the unlit streets in October.
But city officials said plans to increase safety were in the works long before the accident.
"I'm sure that pushed it, though not directly," Bath Township Supervisor Lynwood McGonigal said.
Roger Adsit, an employee at the Lansing Board of Water and Light, said East Lansing required the board to install street lighting.
The lights are just the first of many steps to make the stretch of Abbott Road, north of Lake Lansing Road, safer for the large number of students living there, said Michael Nobach, managing director of the Clinton County Road Commission.
But street lights are not the only safety improvement - speed limit reduction and addition of sidewalks and crosswalks are also in the works, Nobach said.
Whether to add pedestrian crossing lights is still undecided, Nobach said.
"There are currently no pedestrian lights, and we don't know if there will be," he said.
The commission began work on the sidewalks before the ground froze, to be completed along with crosswalks in the spring, he said.
Students living in the area are glad to hear news of the lights.
Capstone Commons resident Amy Gensel said the city made a wise decision in putting up the street lights, adding she hopes her apartment complex will follow the same trend.
"I think it's a good idea, especially for runners," ahe said.
Staff writer Beth Clute contributed to this report.
