Eastbound I-696 to close between I-75 and Lahser for 2 years

OAKLAND COUNTY — On March 1, the third and final phase of the “Restore the Reuther” project will commence, as eastbound and westbound Interstate 696 between Lahser Road and Interstate 75 will be rebuilt in 2025-2026.

In 2027, I-696 between I-75 and Dequindre Road will see improvements such as the rebuilding of the roadway, bridge work and drainage structures.

Additionally, 60 bridges will be repaired, including the rebuilding of the Church Street Plaza bridge that contains Victoria Park. During that construction, a walkway detour will be available.

The project is expected to be completed by fall 2027.

Diane Cross, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Transportation, clarified that westbound traffic will be maintained while eastbound and westbound I-696 will be rebuilt between Lahser Road and I-75.

“We’re reconstructing all of the freeway, but one year we will reconstruct the eastbound side and one year the westbound side, but we’re going to always let westbound traffic use the freeway, and we’ll just move them around. We’ll either keep them on the original west while we rebuild east, or we’ll move them to the eastbound side while we rebuild west. West will always have two lanes open,” she explained.

Eastbound traffic will be detoured via southbound M-10 (Lodge Freeway/Northwestern Highway), eastbound M-8 (Davison Highway) and northbound I-75 back to eastbound I-696.

“But of course, not everybody’s going to use that detour. So therefore, a side effect, unfortunately, for the project, is we’re going to have a lot of eastbound, heavier traffic on the mile roads,” Cross said. “If somebody’s only going to Royal Oak, they are not going to take that detour, they’re going to just jump on a mile road, whether it’s Eight Mile, anywhere up to M-59, depending on where they’re going. Eastbound is going to be the one that’s going to see heavier traffic on local roads for two years and will be detoured for two years,” Cross said.

She added that this is the first time since the highway was constructed nearly 40 years ago that it has seen a total rehab, and with the exception of Interstate 94, it will be another 20 years before this part of the state has another major freeway reconstruction project.

“It’s a huge investment for Oakland County,” Cross said. “Yeah, it’s a pain in the neck; we totally get that. We all drive the same roads. We drive them, our families drive them, and we hear about it all the time, but what an investment to Oakland County — another $250 million into the local economy of jobs and services, and that kind of thing says what we value, I think, as a state.”

The total investment for I-696’s three phases of construction is $655 million, with this last phase totaling $250 million, which MDOT is funding through the “Rebuilding Michigan” bond program and the federal “Reconnecting Communities” grant program.

This last stretch of the project supports 2,385 jobs, directly or indirectly, according to an MDOT press release.

 

The effect on local communities
The communities of Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Lathrup Village, Madison Heights, Oak Park, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Southfield and Warren will be directly impacted by the project.

Southfield drew roughly 150,000 commuters to the city before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the city’s mayor, Kenson Siver.

“It’s going to be a major inconvenience for our businesspeople and our residents, but it’s beyond our control and some needed repairs are necessary for the highway,” Silver said. “Road construction is always inconvenient, but we have to live with the reality of it because we need safe roads, and we need roads that are in good repair.”

Siver added that as a Southfield resident for more than 50 years, he remembers using the mile roads before I-696 was constructed.

“We went east to west on mile roads, and that’s what we’ll be doing again,” he said. “And I remember after 696 opened, that the amount of traffic, particularly on 10 and 11 Mile roads, decreased significantly because people switched to the freeway. And so I would expect that they’ll all continue to get around, and it’ll just take us longer and be less convenient.”

Pleasant Ridge City Manager James Breuckman said the closure is going to “definitely” change the regional travel patterns for the city’s residents.

“We’re going to wait and see how travel patterns change because, beforehand, we can predict but we don’t know what the actual impact on traffic is going to be. And if we find that we have problems, we’ll address them and we’ll react and do all those as best we can,” he said.

Aside from the traffic disruption and the inconveniences it will cause, Breuckman does see positives in the construction with the investment and improvement in infrastructure.

As for how the project will affect local businesses, Breuckman stated that Pleasant Ridge has a mix of professional offices and services, but not many retail stores.

“I believe that our businesses will likely be OK,” he said. “They’re serving, generally, a clientele who is either already close by and won’t be coming from regional destinations, or they’re service providers whose clients may not even need to come to their offices because they can do things remotely. So, I think our business community should be relatively unaffected by this other than that baseline level of inconvenience that we’ll all be living through.”

Ryan Ringold, the chief marketing officer at Bionicc Body Screening, said that the two-year closure is going to be an inconvenience to the clients visiting the MRI clinic, which is located at the northeast corner of Northwestern Highway and Lahser Road in Southfield.

“The thought for a lot of people of going into an MRI machine is already overwhelming and can make them feel anxious, some a lot more than others. But when they’re coming and already feeling a little anxious about having the service done, adding to that by taking longer, fighting traffic, I mean, that itself can be overwhelming for people, so I think it’s kind of a double whammy for them,” Ringold said.

Huntington Woods City Manager Chris Wilson has seen the closure and detour map, and he thinks it’s a “bit unrealistic.”

“I don’t think people are going to go that far out of their way,” he said. “We anticipate it will increase traffic a little bit on surface streets like 11 Mile, and we’re prepared for that.”

Wilson also stated that the city has spoken with Rackham Golf Course and the Detroit Zoo to make them aware of the closures and the impacts it might have on them, though he hasn’t been able to speak with more of the businesses within Huntington Woods yet. 

“Once the warmer weather gets here, people are out more, we’ll have a better feel of people going to destinations like the zoo and Rackham,” he said. “I think we’ll get a better idea of how that’s going to impact local traffic patterns.”

Wilson agreed the work needs to be done, but in the short term there will be increased traffic on major streets like Coolidge Highway and 11 Mile Road. The city will direct patrols necessary to make sure people progress through town safely.

“You always worry about if there is increased traffic that people will just avoid the area and that’ll have a negative impact on business,” he said. “I don’t think that’ll be the case. We certainly want to try to avoid that, so we’ll be able to try to make sure everybody can just progress through as safely as possible.”

Ferndale is home to one of the bigger downtowns in the metro Detroit area, filled with businesses on Nine Mile Road, Woodward Avenue and the surrounding area.

In the heart of downtown is The Rust Belt Market, home to many small businesses that operate within. One of the owners, Chris Best, was bummed to hear the highway would be closed for two years, though he agrees the improvements in infrastructure are good.

Best stated that The Rust Belt is lucky that it’s more of a destination business in Ferndale that people would make the trip to, as opposed to smaller retail shops that might be more affected.

“I do feel for the other retailers in the area that don’t have the dynamic aspect of their business models like we do,” he said. “However, I’m sure we’ll feel it in our bottom line over the course of two years. How much we’ll be able to discern if the traffic closures affected us? I don’t know if we’ll be able to pull that out, but who knows what happens with the economy in the meantime.

“We persevered through the Woodward bike lane/repaving road diet that went on, and it wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be,” he continued. “So that was painful, but we got through it. So, this will be the same thing.”

Best believes it will be around six months before they’ll be able to tell the effects of the freeway construction. 

“Next winter will be a really big one, because the slowdowns we have are seasonal,” he said. “It’s like every other retail establishment has these seasonal slowdowns. … This last holiday season, most shops were up over the last year, which is great, because I thought it would be a break-even or even just a slight loss because of inflation and loss of discretionary spending, but we bucked what my prediction would be, so that’s good. So, we’ll just have to maybe get creative and do more interesting events and try to counteract this traffic congestion issue and make people want to take the detour.”

Royal Oak City Manager Joe Gacioch is preparing for some big changes to traffic flow during the two years. 

Gacicoch said that he attended a meeting detailing the detour plan laid out by the Michigan Department of Transportation Jan. 16.

“I can see they prioritize safety,” he said. “My chief concern will be minimizing the impact of their road closure on our local streets and neighborhoods.”

Communication is going to be the key, according to Gacioch.

“The more we can get ahead of the communications and get the messaging right for our residents and our visitors, the better. I have high expectations for MDOT to give us information,” he said. 

“I would like to get some input for a local conference about how we might be able to amplify that message and make sure that Royal Oak remains as accessible as possible,” he said.

Judy Davids, community engagement specialist for Royal Oak, said that she remembers the initial opening of I-696 and the positive impact it had on Royal Oak’s downtown.

“When that road opened was when Royal Oak became popular,” she said.

Davids said that that road is the epicenter of how the majority of people get around, and the closing could cause some slowdown, but like Gacioch, she is hoping the transition can be smooth for everyone.

 

Construction zone safety
Cross highlighted the importance of drivers staying alert to ensure the safety of construction workers.

“We are working on the side of the road in a hard hat, a vest, a cone, a barrel, maybe a barrier wall, trying to get home to our families the same way you’re trying to get home to your family,” she said. “You got to slow down. You can’t be distracted. Whatever it is that you think is more important is not more important than killing someone or killing yourself in order to get somewhere or read a text or something.”

MDOT is planning a public meeting for early February, with the date expected to be announced soon.

To stay updated on MDOT’s Oakland County projects, visit drivingoakland.com.

Staff Writer Taylor Christensen contributed to this report.