University officials are developing a plan that, if implemented, would close down part of Main Street on football Saturdays as an extra precaution to prevent potential terrorist attacks during games.
The move to shut down areas around Main Street could thwart possible car bombings, according to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said.
“The whole premise behind the Michigan Stadium Vehicle-Free Zone is to reduce the risk of a vehicle-borne bomb or a vehicle-borne attack,” Brown said.
The plan would close down five blocks of Main Street along the west side of the Big House between Stadium and Pauline boulevards during football games and other big events.
“There would be five properties on Main Street within that zone that only have access” from Main Street to their property, Brown said, adding that access accommodations would be made only for those people and their guests, pedestrians and emergency vehicles.
Other parts of the plan include closing the right-turn lane of Stadium Boulevard onto Main Street, closing Keech Street from Main to Greene streets and limiting access on Greene Street from Hoover to Keech streets.
There’s no set time frame for when the plan could be enacted, Brown said.
Comments about the plan being implemented during November home games or next year are “speculative at best,” Brown said, adding that the University held a meeting with neighboring residents of the Big House for input on a possible plan.
“We needed that information and meeting in order to go further,” she said.
City of Ann Arbor spokeswoman Lisa Wondrash said the city hasn’t heard any information on a proposal to be submitted to the City Council.
“There’s nothing on our end to report,” Wondrash said, remarking that many residents have called the city inquiring about the plan, but the earliest a proposal could be reviewed would be at the council’s Nov. 4 meeting.
“I know everyone’s interested in seeing if it’s been brought forward, ” she said.
Brown said students shouldn’t worry about the closure affecting their walk to football games, given that much of the plan deals with the other side of the stadium. She added that — like the stadium’s recent no water bottle or handbag policies — the plan is one of many to greatly reduce the risk of harm to patrons.
“It’s another evolution in increasing the safety and security for patrons,” Brown said. “From a public perspective, this is the next big plan.”
A similar plan could be used for large events at Crisler Arena, Brown added.