MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The corner of Van Atta road and Grand River is a busy one. Theres a gas station on one corner and a mobile home community on the other. What its missing however is a traffic signal

This has been a concern for local citizen Tim Potter who lives on Van Atta and is the manager of MSU Bikes, a bike shop on campus that does repairs, rents out bikes and promotes safe riding. Over the years he has asked the Michigan Department of Transportation to install a traffic light.

"Cars really stack up on the south side of Van Atta, especially during rush hour" Potter said " Over the years I just have observed that."

The Michigan Department of Transportation did do an informal study of the area. They observed traffic at the intersection over an 8 hour period. The study concluded that there was not enough vehicular volume to warrant a traffic light.

Changes have been made to the road. 5 years ago a left turn lane was installed, but that led to another problem, now it takes longer to cross the road. Potter believes it would be safer to cross the road at night if street lights were installed on Grand River.

"Ive seen a lot of people crossing Grand River to get to this convenience store. Now that its 3 lanes wide it takes longer to cross, and I've seen a lot of close calls out here"

With no formal study planned by MDOT a traffic light wont be happening anytime soon. MDOT has stated though that street lights are still a very real possibility.