A2: Football Traffic

The city of Ann Arbor has issued a press release reminding football fans and city residents to expect longer than usual football game day traffic delays for the Saturday, Sept. 3 game featuring Western Michigan University against the University of Michigan. The game starts at 3:30 p.m.

Before the game, police will manually manage traffic at the Stadium Boulevard & Main Street intersection starting two hours before game time. But all other intersections along Ann Arbor-Saline Road will operate by traffic timed according to the normal weekend schedule. The State Street corridor will also be managed with traffic signals timed according to the normal schedule.

After the game, Ann Arbor-Saline Road will be one way, heading south to I-94 as it’s always been done on football Saturdays. The State Street corridor will operate only through signals, not manually.

The reduced level of service reflects the service level that the University of Michigan was willing to pay for. In previous years, the university has refused to reimburse the city for any of the traffic control services. [See Chronicle coverage: "City, UM Reach Partial Deal on Football Traffic"]

On an exceptional basis, for the Sept. 10 Notre Dame night game, the city will be providing the same level of traffic control service that’s been provided in previous years. [Source]