New driving, & bike and parking lane designations for South Michigan Street

Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 2:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

The City of Plymouth has been working over the last couple of weeks to complete this year’s Community Crossing Street Improvement Projects.

South Michigan Street was milled and paved, and new pavement markings have been installed that weren’t there in the past. This new striping layout defines the driving lanes to help slow down traffic.

Plymouth’s Street Superintendent, Jim Marquardt, said it is a traffic calming design that creates a combination biking and parking lane on both the northbound and southbound lanes.

Marquardt said the design concept was addressed during a Complete Streets meeting, and while not a lot of people park on South Michigan Street, when families have parties or company over, the new design provides street parking.

With the new driving lanes designated and the possibility of vehicle parking on both sides of South Michigan Street, traffic should slow down to 35 MPH as posted.

Drivers heading north will now have a right-turn lane at Pennsylvania Avenue, and traffic continuing north into the downtown area will drive in the left lane until the intersection with LaPorte Street.