LANSING – The narrow stretch of Telegraph Road that winds through Monroe won’t be widened until 2011, the Department of Transportation (MDOT) said.

The road, which is just two lanes in some high-traffic areas, has been the subject of debate.

Some area residents say the road has been a bottleneck and predict that the situation will worsen in the future.

The area of Telegraph in question lies north of Stewart Road, where several high-traffic businesses are located. A Kohl’s, a Staples and a Lowe’s all operate within the vicinity of Mall Road, where Telegraph is squeezed into two lanes.

Construction of new businesses on Telegraph could increase traffic before it’s widened.

In particular, a new Wal-Mart Supercenter was approved last summer and construction will begin this year. The new store will be built across the street from the existing Wal-Mart, near the intersection of Mall and Telegraph roads.

A Wal-Mart Supercenter integrates several types of operation, including a grocery, into the standard Wal-Mart store model.

Wal-Mart will add a right turn lane and a traffic signal to the road to accommodate increased traffic, said Nick Infante, a public affairs manager for the company.

Kari Arend, a communications officer for MDOT, says a plan to widen the road was put on the department’s agenda a few years ago.

“We’ve been aware of the issues down there.”

Projects of that type are typically planned at least five years in advance, Arend says. An in-house team of civil engineers identifies new projects every year and adds them to a five-year agenda.

Projects then must go through further planning and design stages before construction eventually begins.

Arend said it’s rare that such a project will be bumped up, but she noted that it has happened in the past and that construction plans are “not set in stone.”

Other current projects, as well as funding, are concerns that affect scheduling, she said.

Improvements to Telegraph and other roads in the area have been underway for some time, Arend said, adding, “We’ve made improvements to that entire corridor.”

When construction workers arrive in 2011, they will widen Telegraph to four lanes and resurface the entire road between Steward and Mall roads.

Mary Coryell, a manager at the Lowe’s on Telegraph, said that the road’s width isn’t always a problem, but occasionally slows shoppers down.

“It was pretty bad around Christmas last year. The road really could be widened,” she said.

Coryell said the situation will worsen with the construction of new businesses that bring in more shoppers.