Fisher Road to undergo work this year

GROSSE POINTE FARMS/CITY — A major roadway is one of the thoroughfares where motorists will see orange barrels this summer.

In a joint project with Grosse Pointe City, Grosse Pointe Farms will be fixing Fisher Road from Mack to Kercheval avenues. The Farms will be paying $509,955 toward the Fisher work, which totals nearly $1.02 million — it’s splitting the cost 50/50 with the City.

“Fisher Road, as you’re aware, is a shared road with Grosse Pointe City,” Farms City Manager Shane Reeside told the Farms City Council during a meeting May 9. “That cost would be shared equally with Grosse Pointe City.”

Fisher work is among the street repair projects that will be taking place in the coming months in the Farms. Other projects on tap include Ridge Road from Kerby to Touraine roads, Ridge from Moran to Lewiston roads, Ridge from Touraine to Cloverly roads, the north and south lanes of Cloverly Road from Grosse Pointe Boulevard to Kercheval Avenue, and Williams Road from Kerby to Belanger roads.

Fisher, which is in particularly rough shape, will require road crews to go down a couple of layers of asphalt to the concrete base, Reeside said.

“It’s going to require more base than we would typically have,” Reeside explained.

Farms Public Service Director Matthew Baka said all the projects to be undertaken this year “are part of the five-year road improvement plan.” Money for the work will come from the city’s street funds and dedicated road millage, he said.

During the May 9 meeting, the council voted unanimously in favor of a bid from Asphalt Specialists Inc. — the low bidder on last year’s Kerby Road project — to undertake the work. Although the projected costs are $1,922,252 — which includes the City’s share toward Fisher — the council vote also authorizes administrators to have additional engineering and roadwork, up to the millage budgeted total of about $2.37 million, to maximize those dollars by tackling additional needed work, such as joint repairs and crack sealing.

The Grosse Pointe City Council also unanimously approved the Fisher project, during a meeting May 16.

“The reason the Farms got such a good (price) was that the Farms had a lot of work (to be done),” Grosse Pointe City Manager Pete Dame said. He said the Farms was able to get Asphalt Specialists Inc. to extend its 2021 pricing to this year.

“It needs it,” Grosse Pointe City Mayor Sheila Tomkowiak said of repairs on Fisher.

Dame said the Farms is doing a water main project on Fisher first, so they don’t have to dig up the road twice.

Reeside said they’ll be replacing a water line and removing a lead service line along Fisher, between Kercheval and Ridge, before work starts to fix the road. He said the water main work will require digging down about 7 inches instead of the typical 4 inches, “but it won’t be as disruptive” because the curbs are in good shape.