Woodward Avenue construction resumes, completion expected in fall

FERNDALE/PLEASANT RIDGE — The Michigan Department of Transportation’s M-1 project in Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge resumed this week and will continue for the majority of the year.

Construction on Woodward Avenue between Eight Mile Road and Interstate 696 picked up again on March 20 with lane closures on both northbound and southbound Woodward.

In the daytime, there will be two to three lanes open from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. During the nighttime and weekends, there will be one to two lanes open from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“The initial construction work will focus on work on upgrading sidewalk ramps, repairing curbs in the median of Woodward as well as performing pavement repairs in the left two lanes and turnarounds,” Gina Red, MDOT project manager, said in an email.

The project began last October with work on the lane and area closest to the median, curb repairs and work within the turnarounds.

“What they did was repair work, kind of structural work, to prepare to get started again this spring,” Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Lena Stevens said.

Construction work also will include drainage improvements, resurfacing on Woodward, installation of bike lanes and signal work. The project is expected to be completed in late fall.

The incorporation of bike lanes has been a much talked about addition to Woodward. The construction is expected to take place mid-summer.

“I’m really excited to host a ribbon-cutting in the fall for the Woodward bike lanes,” Stevens said. “I think it’s very critical to the future of the economic development of downtown Ferndale, so I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.”

In terms of how MDOT determined what construction would be done first on Woodward, Red stated that the staging of the work operations was reviewed and detailed out during the design phase of the project.

After the first phase is completed in the median and two inside lanes, MDOT will focus on repairing the two outside lanes of Woodward, followed by surfacing the two inside lanes, doing the sidewalk and bike lane upgrades in the outside lanes and ending with resurfacing the outside lanes and installing new pavement markings.

“We’re going to be having regular meetings between the contractor, the state, the local government, to stay updated as things go through,” Stevens said.

“I do want to state that we do know that this is frustrating for people. We know that construction is never fun, so our goal is just to keep information flowing as much as possible and help everybody navigate this the best we can,” she said.