Residents had the opportunity to learn more about the draft ordinance and give their opinions at a Tuesday night public forum held at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road.

The ordinance will work with the city’s non-motorized transportation plan, which will direct future bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the community, East Lansing Director of Public Works Todd Sneathen said.

The non-motorized transportation plan currently is being finalized and the Complete Streets ordinance will add to it, he said.

“It provides alternative modes of transportation, other options for not just cars,” Sneathen said. “Especially for the type of community we have here, there’s a pretty high number of people who do not use cars when they’re going to their destination. They walk or bike.”

The public forum was moderated by Greenway Collaborative President Norm Cox. Community members also can give input in a survey at the city’s website.

East Lansing received a $10,000, one-year grant last April from the Michigan Department of Community Health to pay for costs associated with putting a Complete Streets ordinance in place, Sneathen said.

“(The money) goes toward staff time required to develop the ordinance, (and) it goes toward the facilitation of the forum or anything to move forward with adopting the ordinance,” Sneathen said.

There are many aspects of Street that make it “complete,” said John Lindenmayer, Michigan League of Bicyclist’s associate director and Michigan Complete Streets Coalition co-chair. Increasing bike lanes and sidewalks, as well as crosswalk and intersection safety is becoming more important, he said.

“For a long time, we built roads just for cars to move place to place,” Lindenmayer said. “This is the idea of people moving place to place.”

Bicyclists are most safe when there are bike lanes, wide shoulders or shared lane markings, Lindenmayer said.

Riding in the bike lanes gives cyclists a sense of security, said Brad Legris, MSU Cycling Club president and mechanical engineering senior. Legris said he commutes to campus every day on Grand River Avenue.

“The bike lane helps tremendously because when there’s actually a lane big enough for bikes, you can ride in it and the cars realize you’re in the right place,” he said.

Legris said the city should adopt MSU’s requirements that mandate bike lanes for reconstructed roads.

Riding on some East Lansing streets can be scary, he said.

“Especially when there’s a lot of traffic, it can be intimidating,” Legris said.

Figuring out how to implement changes to future roadway projects depends on the specific street, Cox told forum attendees. The features of each project depend on the speed and amount of traffic, number of pedestrians and various other factors, he said.