Maumee business could see increased traffic as Conant undergoes changes

MAUMEE, Ohio (WTVG) - It’s a busy day along River Road -- even before sunrise -- on day one for Levi and Lilac’s Coffee Pub with its brand new high-end coffee maker.

“It went pretty smooth actually,” Levi and Lilac’s Coffee Pub Megan McClellan said. “We saw lots of our regular customers from the whiskey room.”

The Levi and Lilac’s Whiskey Room is about 18 months old. It is down the hallway from this new coffee pub, which is in unused rented space designed for people looking to find some grounds with a touch of whiskey since Levi and Lilac’s already has its liquor license.

“It’s something fun and something different to do on a Saturday morning,” McClellan said. “If you want to start your day with some fun.”

Even though McClellan’s businesses are sort of on an island five blocks east of Conant Street in Maumee, she could see an increase in traffic driving by her space.

The City of Maumee hired a painting contractor to temporarily repaint the lines on busy Conant in early October, taking Conant from four lanes down to three lanes with the third lane being a center turn lane -- a lane which currently does not exist. The hope is to decrease traffic and make Conant Street through Uptown a more pedestrian-friendly street.

“These are these traffic diets that they call them,” City of Maumee Mayor Richard Carr said. “Down on High Street in Columbus, they have used it. What they found is by consolidating it into one lane going each way with a center lane for turning, your traffic count can remain the same but your traffic moves through safer and faster. It’s better for the businesses that are up in that area as well.”

Megan says she and her team will now work on new signage outside their businesses to let people know they are open from morning until night.

“I hope that it would get folks that don’t know about us that are cutting through Maumee on a regular basis to maybe just see a new part of it,” McClellan said.

But if Maumee leaders go through with this plan permanently, they will look at adding raised intersections to busy street crossings to slow down vehicles on the side streets off of Conant Street.

“Change is difficult and I understand that,” Carr said. “I understand a lot of people from Perrysburg are very concerned about it because they drive through our city every day. Maumee is a destination for automobiles, it is not a destination for people.”

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