{"id":3370,"date":"2025-10-28T05:49:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/10\/28\/a2-fall-streets-program-ends-early-balances-traffic-and-pedestrian-access-downtown\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T05:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:49:09","slug":"a2-fall-streets-program-ends-early-balances-traffic-and-pedestrian-access-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/10\/28\/a2-fall-streets-program-ends-early-balances-traffic-and-pedestrian-access-downtown\/","title":{"rendered":"A2 Fall Streets program ends early, balances traffic and pedestrian access downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This year\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/ann-arbor-community-enjoys-musical-performances-expanded-outdoor-dining-with-a2-fall-streets\/\"> A2 Fall Streets<\/a> program came to a close Sept. 27 \u2014 one month earlier than in<a href=\"https:\/\/mainstreetannarbor.org\/blog\/2024\/9\/5\/a2-football-streets-street-closures-and-a-big-thanks-to-our-sponsor\"> 2024<\/a> \u2014 after organizers shortened the schedule in response to traffic and accessibility concerns, prompting mixed reactions from businesses and community members.<\/p>\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/mainstreetannarbor.org\/\"> Main Street Area Association<\/a>\u2019s annual event closes sections of Main, Liberty and Washington streets to vehicle traffic over four weekends in September. This year featured live performances from<a href=\"https:\/\/mainstreetannarbor.org\/a2-fall-streets\"> 17 bands and artists<\/a> while patrons ate on the street. As an extension of the<a href=\"https:\/\/mainstreetannarbor.org\/a2-summer-streets\"> A2 Summer Streets<\/a> tradition,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/all-about-ann-arbor\/2021\/03\/27\/downtown-ann-arbor-streets-closing-thursday-to-make-more-space-for-businesses-pedestrians\/\"> which started in 2020<\/a>, the program aimed to encourage outdoor dining and pedestrian activity downtown.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ashley Schafer, executive director of MSAA, said the closures presented logistical challenges, specifically the availability of parking for customers of downtown businesses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can be a little difficult to navigate the traffic flow outside of that closure for their customers to park,\u201d Schafer said. \u201cWe really try to find a happy medium to support businesses, both within and outside of that enclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Schafer said for restaurants within the street closure, opening outdoor dining areas each weekend can be demanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u200b\u200bTaking their patio furniture in and out every single week, they have to hire additional staff, not just to serve the patios, but to actually set them up,\u201d Schafer said. \u201cThey want to make sure that they have really nice, beautiful patios. It\u2019s a lot of time and effort into them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite these challenges, Schafer said data collected by the MSAA show continued growth in downtown foot traffic during the Fall Streets weekends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re seeing more traffic Thursday through Sunday,\u201d Schafer said. \u201cWe\u2019re actually seeing a pretty large uptick in Sunday traffic. Year over year, we\u2019re seeing growth for this programming, so residents have shown support for the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Maura Thomson, MSAA board member and executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.a2dda.org\/\">Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority<\/a>, said the early ending of Fall Streets aimed to cater to the interests of a variety of businesses.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSome businesses feel that the closures benefit them, some businesses don\u2019t,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cSome residents appreciate the closures, some residents don\u2019t. I think they were just trying to strike a better balance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AADDA\u2019s 2025<a href=\"https:\/\/www.a2dda.org\/people-friendly-streets\/projects\/downtown-area-circulation-study\/\"> Downtown Area Circulation Study<\/a> proposes an alternative seasonal closure plan that would keep Main Street open to vehicle traffic, while keeping side streets Liberty and Washington open to pedestrians only.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtownhomeandgarden.com\/\">Downtown Home &amp; Garden<\/a>, a shop located just outside the street closure zone, has served the Ann Arbor community since 1906. The business, which relies heavily on customers arriving by car, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/local\/michigan\/2025\/08\/06\/downtown-home-garden-ann-arbor-closing\/85542262007\/\">announced<\/a> its closure at the end of this year. In an email to The Daily, owner Kelly Vore wrote that street closures make it increasingly difficult for customers to access the store.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt prevents our regular customers from getting to us and we are a vehicle driven kind of business,\u201d Vore wrote. \u201cOur customers realize that their access is not a priority for A2 city gov\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vore added that while businesses with evening customers benefit from the pedestrian environment, businesses who get most of their customers during the day, such as hers, do not get the same boost.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cDaytime use of the closed areas has minimal customers and is sparse at best,\u201d Vore wrote. \u201cIt almost exclusively favors the after 5:00 crowd, which is fine, but to close day business to accommodate the night, is a trade-off none of us agreed to. The biggest issue with the street-fight in general is that there is a constant tug-of-war for pushing others out in favor of another. There are no gains that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Tom Murray, owner of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conoroneills.com\/\"> Conor O\u2019Neill\u2019s Irish Pub<\/a>, which operates an outdoor dining space during Fall Streets, said the event has brought more visitors downtown through various events and performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re a big benefit to us,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWe feel that it brings a lot of people, residents and visitors downtown \u2026 the Main Street area has really put a lot of its resources into activating the blocks when it is on, so there tends to be something going on every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night, Sundays too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Murray said the feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive, although some residents expressed frustration with the traffic disruptions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe get a lot of very, very positive feedback,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWe do get some negative feedback from some residents who live downtown, because it\u2019s a little more difficult for them to get in and out on the weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily, Curtis Sullivan, co-founder and co-owner of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaultofmidnight.com\/\"> Vault of Midnight<\/a>, said the pedestrian closures and outdoor performances have boosted business and created a more lively atmosphere on Main Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been very good for us,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe enjoy it for our business. We\u2019ll get approached a lot like, \u2018Hey, can we put (a performance) in front of your store?\u2019 and we always say yes. We\u2019re huge fans. I think activity and busyness \u2014 it\u2019s all helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with The Daily Music, Theatre &amp; Dance junior Sage Taylor, lead singer of student band<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/grenadine.band\/\"> Grenadine<\/a>, said performing at Fall Streets was a unique experience for the band and attracted a broader audience than their typical student crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was incredibly unique compared to other shows we\u2019ve played; I don\u2019t think we have ever played anything like that, and I don\u2019t know if we ever will,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt was so interesting to meet and interact with all different kinds of people that might not typically be at one of our shows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As planning begins for next year\u2019s Fall Streets, Schafer said the MSAA will continue to refine the program based on community feedback.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-5    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to make sure that whatever programming we do downtown supports the businesses and the residents and people enjoy it,\u201d Schafer said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep talking to our members and listening to our residents and find that best fit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily News Contributor Niko Wilson can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/a2-fall-streets-program-ends-early-balances-traffic-and-pedestrian-access-downtown\/mailto:nikow@umich.edu\"><em>nikow@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year\u2019s A2 Fall Streets program came to a close Sept. 27 \u2014 one month earlier than in 2024 \u2014 after organizers shortened the schedule in response to traffic and accessibility concerns, prompting mixed reactions from businesses and community members. The Main Street Area Association\u2019s annual event closes sections of Main, Liberty and Washington streets [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[3433,3431,1014,2351,3110,956,3432,1582,3430,2795],"class_list":{"0":"post-3370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-access","9":"tag-balances","10":"tag-downtown","11":"tag-early","12":"tag-ends","13":"tag-fall","14":"tag-pedestrian","15":"tag-program","16":"tag-streets","17":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3372,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3370\/revisions\/3372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}