Michigan Notes

[wanderer2575]

I-75 update:  One lane now open southbound, one lane will open northbound later today.  Two left lanes in each direction plus the center median will be rebuilt first, then the two right lanes in each direction will be rebuilt.  Apparently the incident did not happen near the bridges over Big Beaver Road and they are unharmed.

https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-563620--,00.html

July 13, 2021 -- The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) announced that the right lane of southbound I-75 has opened at Big Beaver Road in the city of Troy.  All lanes of the freeway have been closed due to a tanker crash that occurred Monday, July 12. 

The reopening of the right lane will allow traffic to move on the freeway while crews rebuild the damaged center and left lanes, along with the barrier wall that separates both directions of traffic.  In order to minimize expected delays, the entrance ramps to southbound I-75 will remain closed at Crooks and Big Beaver roads until the repair work is completed.

On northbound I-75, crews will reopen the right lane during the afternoon hours on Wednesday, July 14.  This will allow for the rebuilding of the center and left lanes that were also significantly damaged during the crash.  To minimize expected delays, crews will keep the entrance ramps at 14 Mile and Rochester roads closed during repairs.

Once the repairs to the left and center lanes are complete, crews will then begin rebuilding the right lanes in each direction.

[GaryV]

Detroit News reported today that it will take 6 weeks and $1.5M to fix I-75.

[Flint1979]

Detroit News reported today that it will take 6 weeks and $1.5M to fix I-75.

Damn 6 weeks that they could have been working on another project and $1.5 million they could have spent on another project.

[GaryV]

Detroit News reported today that it will take 6 weeks and $1.5M to fix I-75.

Damn 6 weeks that they could have been working on another project and $1.5 million they could have spent on another project.

I'm sure they'll get the money from an insurance company somewhere.  But insurance can't give you back time.

[Flint1979]

Detroit News reported today that it will take 6 weeks and $1.5M to fix I-75.

Damn 6 weeks that they could have been working on another project and $1.5 million they could have spent on another project.

I'm sure they'll get the money from an insurance company somewhere.  But insurance can't give you back time.

Yeah it'll be time wasted more than anything I'm sure the cost is covered by insurance like you said.

[GaryV]

Oh wonderful, as if the Troy fire wasn't enough:  https://www.clickondetroit.com/traffic/2021/07/18/mackinac-bridge-closed-amid-police-situation/

[WillWeaverRVA]

https://twitter.com/ericlloyd/status/1416848801847988226?s=21

[JREwing78]

Hopefully nothing happens where the bridge is forced to shut down. As I discussed previously (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=29334.msg2616581#msg2616581), it would be a major hardship for the eastern U.P. and a blow to tourism in the region if the bridge was closed for any extended period of time. There's certainly options to reopen ferries, but that would only really make sense for locals or for those whose final destination was east of Manistique.

[wanderer2575]

The Bridge was closed at 2:15pm and reopened a little after 5:00pm after a search.  Nothing was found.

[JoePCool14]

The Bridge was closed at 2:15pm and reopened a little after 5:00pm after a search.  Nothing was found.

Gotta love presumably empty threats. Our local schools have had a couple of them within the past few years, and they're incredibly frustrating because they're so easy to make and can cause so much chaos. You do have to treat them seriously, since they could still be legitimate, but that doesn't make them any less annoying.

[Papa Emeritus]

^ That's what it looked like to me.  Why did he drift left?  (If Crash_It was driving that car he cut off, we'd have a wonderful video!)

Probably on the phone. I hope the investigation subpoenas his phone logs from his provider.

We've had two fatal accidents in the last couple of years here in Minnesota where the truck drivers were watching porn on their phones when they should have been driving. In one incident on I-94 northwest of Minneapolis, a construction worker was run over after a semi driver going 72 in a 55 MPH zone hit him, because he was focused on porn and failed to focus on the construction zone. The semi drivers, unfortunately, were given relatively brief prison sentences.

I know I'm in the minority, but I feel any driver who kills someone because they are watching porn (or drunk) should be treated the same way as if they'd used a gun.

[Flint1979]

Michigan State Police are vamping up efforts to catch speeders in Metro Detroit. Along I-96 yesterday there was a car that was caught doing 114 mph in a 70 mph zone.

[Terry Shea]

Michigan State Police are vamping up efforts to catch speeders in Metro Detroit. Along I-96 yesterday there was a car that was caught doing 114 mph in a 70 mph zone.

So why did he get pulled over?  Slowest car in metro Detroit?

[Flint1979]

Michigan State Police are vamping up efforts to catch speeders in Metro Detroit. Along I-96 yesterday there was a car that was caught doing 114 mph in a 70 mph zone.

So why did he get pulled over?  Slowest car in metro Detroit?

I know they issued 133 tickets with the top speed of 115. They didn't even go after anyone under 85 mph either. They plan on doing this on the Lodge, I-75 and 696 too.

[wanderer2575]

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is seeking public input for a future I-94/Ecorse Road interchange replacement project through a public survey at http://metroquestsurvey.com/eh4r4m (a more basic version of the survey is available at https://www.research.net/r/VV8Z5ML).

The survey will first ask users to rank their main concerns about the area of the intersection and then to rank from the four options that will be described, along with a drawing of what the option would look like.

The main concern topics to be ranked are:
- Improve safety,
- Enhance access,
- Accommodate all users,
- Add pedestrian/bike path (to Ecorse Road), and
- Other. (Selecting Other will allow users to type in their own topic.)

The four options under consideration all include eliminating the left-hand entrance ramps to I-94 and adding full access to all directions to and from I-94 and Ecorse Road. The options are:
- A diamond interchange with signals at the ramps,
- Adding a diamond interchange with roundabouts at the ramps,
- A partial cloverleaf interchange with two loop ramps, or
- A diverging diamond at the interchange.

Within the survey there are concept drawings as well as more details for each option.

This is about a mile or so east of the Middlebelt/Merriman interchanges and Detroit Metro Airport.

MDOT release:  https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-564470--,00.html

[GaryV]

More travail for I-75.  A sinkhole opened on the nb service drive north of 11 Mile Rd.  NB I-75 is closed to assess any damages.  (I-75 is below grade there.)

https://www.clickondetroit.com/traffic/2021/07/30/emergency-repairs-close-northbound-i-75-between-i-696-and-12-mile-road/

[Flint1979]

I-75 in Oakland County is basically dead to me right now.

[rawmustard]

The M-343 (Gull Road) and G Avenue roundabout opens today. Some restoration work will continue, and streetlights will be installed in the fall.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/vJkYCWNftckaQh3e9

I see the missing link of US 31 is now visible on Google Satellite images.

Too bad they could not build it to I-196 as it really should be to have one continuous freeway between the two.

[renegade]

https://goo.gl/maps/vJkYCWNftckaQh3e9

I see the missing link of US 31 is now visible on Google Satellite images.

Too bad they could not build it to I-196 as it really should be to have one continuous freeway between the two.

But that would make too much sense!

[Flint1979]

MDOT is lame like that all because of a butterfly, give me a break.

[23skidoo]

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is seeking public input for a future I-94/Ecorse Road interchange replacement project through a public survey at http://metroquestsurvey.com/eh4r4m (a more basic version of the survey is available at https://www.research.net/r/VV8Z5ML).

The survey will first ask users to rank their main concerns about the area of the intersection and then to rank from the four options that will be described, along with a drawing of what the option would look like.

The main concern topics to be ranked are:
- Improve safety,
- Enhance access,
- Accommodate all users,
- Add pedestrian/bike path (to Ecorse Road), and
- Other. (Selecting Other will allow users to type in their own topic.)

The four options under consideration all include eliminating the left-hand entrance ramps to I-94 and adding full access to all directions to and from I-94 and Ecorse Road. The options are:
- A diamond interchange with signals at the ramps,
- Adding a diamond interchange with roundabouts at the ramps,
- A partial cloverleaf interchange with two loop ramps, or
- A diverging diamond at the interchange.

Within the survey there are concept drawings as well as more details for each option.

This is about a mile or so east of the Middlebelt/Merriman interchanges and Detroit Metro Airport.

MDOT release:  https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620-564470--,00.html

I've been wondering when MDOT was going to do something about those left-hand ramps. Especially when it's so close to the airport. Personally, I'd like to see a diamond interchange that touches both Ecorse and Inkster roads, something like the M-14/Maple/Miller interchange on the north side of Ann Arbor: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2990953,-83.7840487,1017m/data=!3m1!1e3 . I think there's enough right-of-way (if not, the northwest corner of I-94 and Inkster is vacant land, so it could easily be acquired for a SB onramp from Inkster)

[JREwing78]

I've been wondering when MDOT was going to do something about those left-hand ramps. Especially when it's so close to the airport. Personally, I'd like to see a diamond interchange that touches both Ecorse and Inkster roads, something like the M-14/Maple/Miller interchange on the north side of Ann Arbor: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.2990953,-83.7840487,1017m/data=!3m1!1e3 . I think there's enough right-of-way (if not, the northwest corner of I-94 and Inkster is vacant land, so it could easily be acquired for a SB onramp from Inkster)

They could extend the C/D lanes for Middlebelt and Merriman Roads east past the Ecorse Rd interchange. It would require, however, some kind of intermediate crossover to allow Inkster and Ecorse Rd-bound traffic to bypass the traffic entering and exiting for Detroit Metro Airport. There's a ton of short-spaced interchanges here already; making it all work smoothly gets more expensive if Inkster Rd needs full access.

There's plenty of easy access already for Inkster via Middlebelt and Inkster Roads; if I was holding the purse strings for MDOT, I'd would put in a SPUI at Ecorse Rd and be done.

[JoePCool14]

https://goo.gl/maps/vJkYCWNftckaQh3e9

I see the missing link of US 31 is now visible on Google Satellite images.

Too bad they could not build it to I-196 as it really should be to have one continuous freeway between the two.

It is beyond pathetic that those freeways aren't being directly connected. This is definitely a case of green tyranny.

[Flint1979]

It'll be better than Napier Road but it should have been built to connect to I-196. I will never forgive MDOT for that LMAO.