What is SS4A? Why are the Trees being removed? Can we stop it?
Kalamazoo County Residents,
There is a road safety project that will begin this fall by the Road Commission of Kalamazoo County (RCKC). RCKC is benefiting from a large US Department of Transportation grant program called Safe Streets 4 All (SS4A) in the amount of $25M. This grant was awarded in 2024 to RCKC, which has started some administrative aspects of the project. For the designated roads in the project, the work includes road improvements, addition of centerline and shoulder rumble strips, shoulder widening (in some areas), improved signage, road markings, and intersection improvements. All of the roads designated to be improved will also include “Clear Zone Improvements”. This means that all trees within 33 feet of the centerline (the road right-of-way) will be completely removed to reduce potential accidents whereby a vehicle leaves the road and possibly hits a tree. RCKC has noted few exemptions to tree removal such as trees located behind a guardrail or in some cases at the top of a hill. Follow the links above and below for a Map of the SS4A designated roads as well as a link to the RCKC SS4A project documents including their presentation dated May 15th, 2026.
While we believe this grant program will likely enhance the safety of our community roadways, we do not agree with the "Clear Zone Improvement" that would remove all trees. We believe that removal of all of the trees along rural roads will create an even greater road hazard in the winter where we have blowing snow which creates icy road conditions. We have several examples in our community where the trees have been removed along the roads throughout the years, and in those stretches are where we see some of the most dangerous winter driving conditions (even 10 minutes after the plow truck has gone by). Trees create a natural barrier to blowing snow and help prevent wind-blown roads from turning to ice. We’ve all experienced these conditions and white-knuckling the steering wheel until we reach the tree line again where the road is clear. We believe removing all the trees in the right-of-way to reduce the chances of a vehicle potentially hitting a tree will create greater road hazards in the winter for 100% of all the drivers traveling on these roads.
Other concerns about blanket tree removal are the real risk that an out-of-control vehicle leaves the roadway and rather than hitting a tree, it passes through the ‘Clear Zone’ straight into a resident’s home or other residential buildings. Or, it passes through the 'Clear Zone' into a resident’s tree just beyond it, negating the potential benefit of the “Clear Zone”. We have also heard from residents about the general concern of losing beautiful 50 or 100+ year old trees that can’t be replaced. Many of us moved out to the country because of the beautiful landscape created by these trees and do not want our communities to look like cleared city streets… we love our tree lined roads. There are several other reasons we’ve heard about not wanting trees removed from our tree lined roads including the real potential of a decrease in property values for those homes suffering this tree removal without any say.
Again, we believe that parts of this SS4A project will likely enhance the safety of the roads in our community and we want to see those parts move forward. However, we want to see a compromise made between RCKC and the citizens/residents whereby they only remove trees impeding visibility at intersections, as well as removing dead trees or dead limbs along roadsides… not clearing cutting them all. We understand that the RCKC will still have continued work involved to maintain roads by removing dead or fallen trees or branches throughout the year (typically after storms), but we feel that is why we pay taxes and would like them to continue to maintain our roads in this manner.
We are concerned about representations that the RCKC is making to their Board (see video of RCKC Board meeting on 5/19/2026 on the RCKC website, specifically at the 1:00:20 time mark), to Township Supervisors and the public that because the SS4A grant has already been awarded, they cannot change their scope of work without jeopardizing the entire grant. For this reason, RCKC has responded to inquiries (and stated in their SS4A FAQ document posted on their website) that they will not entertain any compromises or changes to the scope of work. Specifically, their FAQ document states, “At this point, the project scope and locations are finalized, and it is not possible to cancel the project.”
We have spoken directly with both the Office of the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation (responsible for the overall SS4A grant program including approval of grants and amendments to the grants) and the Federal Highway Administration of the US Department of Transportation (responsible for day-to-day project management of individual SS4A grants awarded to municipalities/counties). In two separate conversations, after explaining the residents’ proposal to reduce the scope of the work to be done under the current plan (by reducing the number of trees to be removed), both US DOT offices confirmed that amendments are quite common and that reducing the scope of work (and budget) for only one portion of the project will not jeopardize RCKC’s SS4A project or grant funds. The RCKC simply has to submit an amendment for approval to the DOT, which the RCKC has done at least once already. The representative from the Federal Highway Administration explained that amendments to these projects are common due to local governments receiving input/feedback from their citizens. The Office of the Secretary of the DOT went on to say that it would be very honorable if a grantee openly acknowledges their scope of work reductions and self-reports a reduction to their already approved grant amount/ask. They stated that some recipients choose not to disclose their budget reduction and create other work to keep the money. We feel our RCKC would do the right thing and submit an amendment disclosing the reduction in grant funds needed due to the reduction of tree removal work.
RCKC has stated that any changes to their SS4A project would delay the timeline and put the whole grant project in jeopardy as they have to adhere to project completion timelines. Again, we do not believe this is accurate. The residents are proposing a significant reduction in work by eliminating the need to remove 8,000 trees as the RCKC has estimated. This would significantly reduce the amount of upfront tree removal work needed, thereby reducing the overall timeline allowing the RCKC to finish on-time or possibly ahead of schedule.
We are posting this letter to ensure that all residents have the facts in hopes of insuring complete transparency about this project and its impact on our community. We have listened to RCKC’s SS4A presentation (available online, see links above and below), attended a meeting at the RCKC, as well as spoken directly to representatives from RCKC and have concerns that residents may not have been fully aware as to the size and scope of the complete tree removal portion of this project. We believe that real visibility to the scope of the project has only just started as residents are just now seeing red ‘X’ and orange ‘X’ marks on road side trees being identified for removal by the RCKC. We have heard from residents that they are confused about why the trees are marked and then had them express anger upon learning that “X” marks the spot for complete removal starting in October of 2026.
We would also like to point out that the RCKC’s SS4A presentation discusses test cases they have already completed where rumble strips were installed on certain roads. RCKC reported significant reduction in crashes involving vehicles leaving the roadway just from installing rumble strips. We believe the implementation of rumble strips and the other improvements such as road resurfacing, signage, pavement markings will only add to the success of the SS4A initiatives without having to remove the trees.
If you are a citizen/resident of Kalamazoo County, and you support this initiative to stop the complete clear cutting of trees along our rural roads within the 15 townships, we would like to ask you to sign a petition to present to the RCKC leadership, RCKC Board, Township Supervisors, and appropriate elected officials. The City of Kalamazoo and the City of Portage are not included in the SS4A program, but residents of these cities get a vote because they drive on these County roads.
We have two petitions: Please only sign Petition #1 if your property is situated along one of the roads in the SS4A Project and you do not want your trees completely removed (see roads highlighted in Red, Yellow, Blue or Green in the SS4A Map and presentation).
Only sign Petition #2 if you do not have property along any of the roads designated for SS4A improvement, but you are a Kalamazoo County resident and you do not want your roads to be clear cut.
Finally, property owners who have trees that will be cut down through the current plan should be aware that they will be receiving a letter from the RCKC in July. The letter will be asking, 1) if you would like to have the trees that they cut down taken away or 2) cut down and left behind on your property. The concern we have with this form letter is that if the property owner responds that they would like to have their trees removed from their property or left behind after the RCKC cuts them down, that these responses would act as confirmation to the RCKC that the property owner is consenting to have their trees cut down. On the other hand, not responding might be construed by the RCKC as acquiescence. We urge you to consult with your own legal counsel as to whether and how to respond to these letters. If we receive legal advice on how to address these letters back to the RCKC, we will share on this website.