City officials say opponents of proposed bike lanes on the Broadway Bridge are getting ahead of the process.

The city is still analyzing a key segment of the project, First Ward Council Member Lisa Disch said. Her comments, reported by WEMU on Sept. 18, came days after about 50 northside residents gathered at the Northside Grill on Thursday, Sept. 17, to organize against the plan. Opponents plan to raise the issue at the Sept. 22 City Council meeting at 7 p.m.

The Division Street Bikeway Extension would stretch the existing two-way protected cycle track, which runs from the University of Michigan campus through downtown to near Community High School, north to the Broadway bridges and on to Plymouth Road. On the bridge, the road would shrink from four lanes to three: one car lane in each direction and a center turn lane, with two-way bike lanes added.

"The city is doing additional analysis on the part of the project that goes from the Broadway Bridge north to Plymouth because that is the connector between downtown and Central Campus and the northside," Disch told WEMU.

She said the first phase, running from Catherine Street to the bridge, has been popular and that the current setup is dangerous.

The design has already shifted once. The city changed the concept for Division Street north of Catherine to keep two northbound travel lanes after the Ann Arbor Fire Department requested it, MLive reported.

Opponents are not convinced. Tom Stulberg, who organized the Sept. 17 gathering, told WEMU that residents want to understand the proposed changes and weigh in with concerns and alternative ideas. A petition titled "Don't Remove Traffic Lanes on North Division & the Broadway Bridges!" is circulating, and opponents plan to attend the council meeting.

Old Fourth Ward resident Jeff Crockett shared the petition on the Ann Arbor Politics Facebook page on Sept. 4, raising concerns about downsizing what he described as an already-congested road.

Advocacy group Walk Bike Washtenaw has called on residents who support the extension to contact city leaders. The group is promoting a Downtown Development Authority informational open house on Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the DDA offices in Kerrytown.

The project timeline calls for final engineering and design through November, with bidding in January 2027 and construction planned for spring and summer 2027. That work would be coordinated with a new water main installation and resurfacing of Division Street from Catherine to the south end of the Broadway bridges.