Engineering

The City of Bay City Engineering Services provides support to residents, businesses, contractors, utilities, other units of governments, and developers for their development projects. Other responsibilities include:

  • Managing the City’s Transportation Asset Management Plan, including the Streets, Sidewalks, Signs, and Signals Capital Improvement Plans
  • Assisting with the coordination of water and sewer improvements
  • Managing the design and construction activities performed by the City's contractors and consultants
  • Coordinating projects with public utilities, the Michigan Department of Transportation and other agencies
  • Assisting the public regarding public utility locations, permits, sidewalk issues, safety concerns, and other items
  • Managing the City's Stormwater Management permits and reviews, as well as Soil Erosion and Sediment Control reviews, as required by EGLE

Duties & Activities

Engineering Services staff administers local City Streets, State and Federal funds and grants to plan, design, and construct City Streets, in coordination with City and Private Utilities, to develop the most effective and efficient program.  The Engineering Division participates in regional transportation planning, asset management, and funding efforts through the Bay City Area Transportation Study (BCATS). Daily activities include evaluating the street and sidewalk system to determine repair and maintenance needs, collecting infrastructure and traffic count data, performing inventories of pavement and sidewalk conditions, creating and maintaining GIS maps and databases associated with Engineering Services, and administering the city's rights-of-way, stormwater management and encroachment permit processes.

How do we select Street Projects?

We consider many things when we choose projects.  Some of them are:

  • Pavement Condition
  • Funding
  • Project Cost
  • Utility Coordination and Condition
  • Availability of Additional Funding and Local/State/Federal Grants

For more information, see Project Selection Details.

Transportation Asset Management Plan

As required by PA 325 of 2018, the City has developed a Transportation Asset Management Plan.  The goal is the create a strategy to manage the condition of the City's street system with the funding available.  The steps are:

  • Evaluate the overall condition of the City's road system
  • Analyze the road segments by applying multiple solutions to optimize life span of each
  • Evaluate various levels of investment required to maintain and improve overall condition
  • Establish a strategy and prioritize roadway improvements for short and long term Capital Improvement Plans

See the full report:  2021 Transportation Asset Management Plan

Commission Presentation:  TAMP Presentation 4/19/21

Downtown Traffic Study

A traffic study that was conducted in 2012 determined the traffic signals Downtown were not warranted.  In 2021, an updated study was conducted and investigated data in more detail. The most recent report studied traffic volumes, traffic signal warrants, crash history, pedestrian timing and safety, sight distance, and parking.

The Manual for Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is the law governing all traffic control devices, and is used all over the country.  In this manual, there are nine warrants that are evaluated.  They consist of traffic volumes, crashes, pedestrian volume, and other factors.  If even one warrant is met, a traffic signal is considered warranted and likely the best fit for the intersection.  None of the intersections that were studied Downtown met any warrants and therefore do not meet the legal requirements for a signal.  The new study also considered other factors, and still no warrants were met. If a signal is not warranted, the risk of some types of crashes increases.

The solution to the unwarranted signals is to replace them with 2- and 4-way stops. This will increase safety and meet the legal requirements for traffic control at the intersections.  

The City is also installing additional safety measures for drivers and pedestrians such as high visibility cross walks, additional pavement markings for drivers, portable crosswalk signs at intersections, and construction of "bump outs" at the intersections to improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians, shorten and improve safety for pedestrians crossing at the intersections, and the ability to remove of aging infrastructure that increases safety risks.

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