Road to future; Big plans for Flint riding on Third Avenue makeover
A new street by itself can't turn a scruffy-looking neighborhood into a showplace, but allow stakeholders along Flint's Third Avenue their optimism over a hugely significant project days away from starting.
Turning this four-lane roadway into a well-landscaped link between downtown and Kettering University will be a catalyst for renewal all along this strategic one-mile stretch. Assuming the Michigan Department of Transportation comes through with a $1-million beautification grant to supplement $2.4 million in federal money already secured, and there's every reason to expect that Third Avenue will become the "University Boulevard" long envisioned.
In fact, it's been a project talked about so much that many probably were doubting whether construction ever would get under way, let alone produce the elegance now anticipated. Grassy medians dividing traffic, wide lanes that should at least better accommodate bicycles, improved crosswalks, new greenery and special lighting will help create a college-town ambiance. Of course that only would be appropriate for the corridor connecting Kettering with the University of Michigan-Flint.
And starting the work now couldn't be better timed, as noted by U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee. Not only will it coincide with groundbreaking for UM-Flint's first student housing this summer, it will complement other cleanup and renovation that soon will become more visible along Third. Ongoing fix-up of Atwood Stadium, new in-fill housing slated for vacant spots, the conversion of the seedy Berridge Hotel into condominiums and the impressive investments continually being made by homeowners in the historic Carriage Town neighborhood all contribute to a comeback story for a section of the city many had written off.
Full revitalization will take years, but at least the forces pushing this cause seem to outweigh the power of degrading influences, which would be expelled faster if the city could step up its anti-crime and code enforcement efforts.
City Hall could not have more incentive as much depends on this corridor growing healthy and strong. For starters, Kettering and Hurley Medical Center would enhance their abilities to attract students and patients, respectively, with more welcoming environments. And with those institutions better situated, along with their neighborhoods, the empty canvas along the Flint River is primed for creative new enterprises.
Like so many other cities that have rebranded themselves, the swath of old industrial acreage that once held Chevrolet Manufacturing is seen as perfect a research park. A proposed Kettering-Delphi Corp. fuel-cell lab is supposed to kick it off and be joined over time by other firms that could benefit from the school's expertise.
In such a scheme, the proximity and importance of Third Avenue cannot be missed, as it is the spine connecting the major elements, in place or planned. Therefore, there can be no stinting on quality in rebuilding this street as it very much should become a road to Flint's future.