Mt. Pleasant and CMU collaborate on better street design near campus

A new street is connecting the Central Michigan University campus to the city of Mount Pleasant. 

Olympic Drive opened in October, running east and west between the Special Olympics Michigan building and Chippewa Lanes. It connects East Campus Drive on CMU's campus to Mission Street in the city. 

New streets don't come about automatically, of course; it was the result of a collaboration between the city and the college to increase safety and improve access for campus and city residents and visitors.

"Planners from the city and CMU identified improved safety and access along the Mission Street corridor as a high priority in their master plans," says Steve Lawrence, CMU's associate vice president for facilities management. "Because this corridor borders CMU to the east, we worked together to create a plan for this and other proposed connector streets."

That means that future connecting streets are also in the works along Mission Street, as part of the CMU master plan, as well as in the city's transportation plans. The planned street grid is available online here.

Writer: Kim Eggleston
Source: Central Michigan University