This one is on my list of mysteries and oddities. It’s a curb cut at the northwest corner of East Kalamazoo and South Howard Streets, next to the parking lot for Dagwood’s Tavern, and it has no reason to exist.
Kalamazoo has no sidewalk at this point; its sidewalk mostly disappears after it crosses into the wilds of Lansing Township. The sidewalk on Howard appears and disappears with no discernible pattern, but at this point there is also none. So the curb cut is out there on its own, facing the busy intersection of Kalamazoo and Howard. It doesn’t even give access to Dagwood’s parking lot, since the corner of the lot has a metal barrier directly adjoining the curb cut.
It would make sense, I suppose, for a curb cut to be installed (perhaps while doing other work on the curb or road nearby) if it was part of an intention to someday get around to putting in a sidewalk. But there just isn’t somewhere for a sidewalk to go, not unless Lansing Township makes Dagwood’s give up part of their parking lot. And to the best of my recollection, the barrier at the edge of the lot has always been there as long as I’ve been going to Dagwood’s, which means it pre-dates the curb cut.