City Proposes Removing 400 Parking Spots to Build Protected Bike Lanes on Wealthy and Lake Drive
A draft plan released Friday would add 4.2 miles of protected lanes on two major corridors — but business owners are already pushing back on the parking loss.
Grand Rapids' Department of Public Works released a draft plan Friday that would install 4.2 miles of protected bike lanes on Wealthy Street SE and Lake Drive SE, eliminating an estimated 400 on-street parking spaces in the process. The plan goes to a 60-day public comment period before any council vote. Business owners along Wealthy Street have already organized opposition.
Grand Rapids' Department of Public Works released a long-awaited protected bike lane proposal Friday that would reshape two of the city's busiest commercial corridors — and eliminate roughly 400 on-street parking spaces in the process.
The draft plan calls for 4.2 miles of parking-protected bike lanes on Wealthy Street SE from Eastern Avenue to the Calvin University neighborhood, and on Lake Drive SE from Breton Road to Cascade Road. Protected lanes separate cyclists from traffic using a buffer of parked cars or physical barriers; they are considered substantially safer than painted bike lanes. The city's non-motorized transportation plan, adopted in 2021, identified both corridors as high-priority.
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Pushback was immediate. The Wealthy Street Business Association sent a letter to Commissioner Monica Scheidt Friday afternoon calling the parking reduction "potentially catastrophic" for small retail, citing a University of Michigan study on commercial corridor parking that found each removed space reduces adjacent retail revenue by $1,200–$1,800 per year. The association is requesting that the city fund a 200-space structured parking facility before removing any surface spots.
Advocates at the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission counter that protected lanes increase total customer traffic on commercial corridors by encouraging walk, bike, and transit trips that replace single-car visits. The plan enters a 60-day public comment period; hearings are scheduled June 12 and July 8 at City Hall.
