Michigan Department of Transportation chooses plan for $80 million I-275 project

The Oakland Press, 13 October 2015
Paul Kampe

After evaluating nearly 3,800 survey responses, the Michigan Department of Transportation has decided how to proceed with a $70-$80 million construction project which will affect many Oakland County motorists next year.

The department announced Tuesday it will close each direction of I-275 in Livonia, Novi and Farmington Hills separately during next year’s construction between Five Mile Road and the I-96/I-696/M-5 interchange.

The project will include replacing 13 miles of concrete pavement, repairing entrance and exit ramps at each “Mile” road, repairing 16 bridges, improving drainage and intelligent transportation systems work. It is expected to begin next spring and will also include an additional $1 million in traffic control costs.

Road Commission for Oakland County spokesman Craig Bryson said the expected influx of additional traffic on parallel county roads such as Wixom and Novi roads due to the project will be regulated using adjustable traffic light sensors and manual intervention.

“That whole corridor feeds northern Oakland County,” he said. “We can’t just go in and add capacity to our roads. … there isn’t a lot else we can do.”

MDOT said it evaluated 22 possible road closures, detours, lane shifts and other traffic control options before narrowing them to the three best options and were offered in the survey.

The department then made an online survey available from Oct. 2 to Oct. 9 allowing responders to choose between three options for lane closures and traffic management during the repair project.

The other two options were:

• Keep northbound I-275 open during the entire project with traffic shifted as work is performed and detour southbound I-275 traffic, taking two construction seasons at $2.8 million in additional traffic control costs.

• Both directions of traffic maintained on one side of the freeway with a barrier wall separating traffic, taking two construction seasons at $4.8 million in additional traffic control costs.

MDOT continues to ask for public feedback on the I-275 project at www.research.net/r/i275feedback.

An early-November meeting will allow the public to learn more about the project and speak to MDOT officials about the project.

— Reporter Aftab Borka contributed to this story.

(Editor’s note: A previous version of this story reported only one lane of I-275 would be closed at a time.)

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