Construction returns to I-96 for a third season

NOVI — Orange flowers, aka construction barrels, are blooming again this year as construction of the Interstate 96 Flex Route returns for a third and final season, along with several other construction projects.

“The end is in sight. Thank God,” Brian Travis, Michigan Department of Transportation project manager/construction engineer for the I-96 Flex Route Project, told the Novi City Council during its regular meeting March 4. “This year we are reconstructing all 12 miles of the westbound pavement. Last year, we reconstructed eastbound. We’ve done all construction of the median barrier wall, so it’s just that westbound side that’s left. That includes all the ramps. The good news is that at the end of the year, both ‘bounds’ will be back open, paved, all ramps will be back open and flex lanes will be operational.”

Daily lane closures are to be expected 9 a.m.-3 p.m. March 21-22 on eastbound I-96 from Kent Lake Road to Interstate 275. On March 23, it will be reduced to one lane with intermittent ramp closures starting at 5 a.m. and lasting until 5 p.m. March 24. It will then be reduced to two lanes until early fall.

The southbound Kent Lake Road ramp to eastbound I-96 will be closed at 5 a.m. March 23 until 9 a.m. March 28, and traffic will be detoured via eastbound Grand River Avenue and northbound Milford Road to eastbound I-96.

The Beck Road ramp to eastbound I-96 will close at 5 p.m. March 24 until early fall, and traffic will be detoured via eastbound Grand River Avenue and northbound Novi Road to eastbound I-96.

Eastbound I-96 from Milford Road to Novi Road will be closed 5 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 6, and traffic will be detoured via Milford Road, eastbound Grand River Avenue and northbound Novi Road to eastbound I-96.

However, the project will have a more severe impact on residents come mid-April, with both directions of traffic utilizing the eastbound side of the freeway from Kent Lake to I-275 and the closure of many ramps.

• The southbound M-5 ramp to westbound I-96 will be closed, and traffic will be detoured via southbound M-5, eastbound Grand River Avenue, and northbound M-5 to westbound I-96.

• The northbound and southbound Novi Road ramps to westbound I-96 will be closed, and traffic will be detoured via westbound Grand River Avenue and northbound Beck Road to westbound I-96.

• The westbound I-96 ramp to Novi Road will be closed. I-696 and M-5 traffic will use northbound M-5 to westbound 12 Mile Road to reach Novi Road (this will affect westbound I-696/I-96 traffic to Novi Road, as well as northbound M-5/I-96 to Novi Road).

• The northbound I-275/I-96 ramp to Novi Road will be open.

• The westbound I-96 ramp to Wixom Road will be closed through mid-May, and traffic will be detoured via westbound I-96, southbound Beck Road, and westbound Grand River Avenue to Wixom Road.

• The Wixom Road ramp to westbound I-96 will be closed through mid-May, and traffic will be detoured via eastbound Grand River Avenue and northbound Beck Road to westbound I-96.

• The westbound I-96 ramps to northbound and southbound Milford Road will be closed, and traffic will be detoured via westbound I-96, southbound Kent Lake Road, and eastbound Grand River Avenue to Milford Road.

• The Milford Road ramp to westbound I-96 will be closed, and traffic will be detoured via southbound Milford Road, westbound Grand River Avenue, and northbound Kent Lake Road to westbound I-96.

“It will be impactful, but we will be on the new pavement, so we won’t have the potholes to worry about. We’ll have a variable width shoulder on the inside. That will give us a bit more room for cars that are disabled or first-responder access,” Travis said.

He said they meet with first responders regularly to discuss the impact of the construction and emergency access to the roads.

Mayor Justin Fischer inquired as to why the Beck Road ramp to eastbound I-96 has to remain closed at all times and can’t be open for part of the time. Travis said that it is a safety concern, as by shifting the lanes over, they lose the required taper distance of a minimum of 990 feet. He said they would only have about 700 feet of taper distance. He said that if they kept it open without proper distance to merge, it would create congestion and cause rear-end crashes.

“The impacts to the public are pretty typical of what you have seen over the past couple years. There’s going to be noise. There’s going to be dust. There’s going to be trucks,” Travis said.

Construction work will happen 6 a.m.-6 p.m. There is currently no night work proposed. Travis said they will do their best to minimize noise during the late evening and early morning hours, but there will be times when they have to do work after hours or start concrete plants or trucks early in the morning.

There will be two concrete plants this year. The one at Beck Road will remain, and there will be a new one at M-5 and 12 Mile, in the northwest quadrant.

I-696 is currently under construction and will remain so throughout the year. There are two lanes operational in each direction on the eastbound side.

“I know that the residents have really dealt with a lot in the last couple years and I just do believe that the long term benefit of having 96 updated is going to be worth it, so just a little more pain this year and, hopefully, we’ll get through it the best we can,” Fischer said.

He said that Novi has delayed or minimized several of its own construction projects in an effort to lessen the hardships on residents. He said that  because Wayne County is looking to do construction on Eight Mile Road, the city of Novi has strongly encouraged its staff to delay a Nine Mile Road project until next year. Fischer said the construction on Wixom Road that was recently started was supposed to take place last year but was delayed because of 10 Mile Road, Grand River and I-96 being under construction.

“We actually have delayed projects and we do take that into consideration. I think that it’s important for residents to know,” Fischer said. “We do try to work with the other groups to understand who’s working on what, and the city has delayed projects because of pending construction. I know that it didn’t feel like it last year. I know that much, but we definitely did.”

Fischer said he had been hearing a lot of residents ask what is the purpose of the flex lanes and why can’t they be open all the time.

Travis said the flex lanes will alleviate the traffic congestion going a specific direction on the roads during certain hours of the day. He said it will help to improve travel time reliability.

“The reason we can’t have it open all the time is because it’s a shoulder, really. That pavement was out there before. We just never had it as a lane. If we had it as a full-time lane, it doesn’t meet design standards. It’s right next to the barrier wall, so you have no shoulder. But we are allowed to run on it just certain times of the day. So, that’s what the Flex Route accomplishes,” Travis said. “Anybody who has driven the ones on US-23, it’s very effective. The goal is to eventually connect US-23 to I-96 so that it will be one continuous Flex Route. I think that will really help move traffic east and west, north and south. But I think it’s going to be a big improvement to this community.”

According to a press release from MDOT, the  $269 million project is expected to directly and indirectly support 3,416 jobs.