I-94 Expansion Project [[Roadway to Detroit's Future)

**Junkin4Life** · January-07-12, 07:53 PM

The current schedule for the project calls for the construction of the 10 most critical bridges over I-94 between 2012 and 2016, with major construction on
I-94 proper beginning in 2018. So the first ground to break will be replacement of the bridge at Gratiot Avenue, sometime next year.

Project details can be found on our website by clicking:
http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9621_11058_53088_53115---,00.html

If you have any questions about this project, please contact:

Terry A. Stepanski, P.E.
Senior Project Manager
Michigan Department of Transportation
425 W. Ottawa Street
P.O. Box 30050
Lansing, MI 48909
Office

517) 241-0233
Cell: [[517) 204-2656
email: stepanskit@michigan.gov

**313WX** · January-07-12, 07:57 PM

Is this the ultimate plan Michigan has to expand I-94 to 4 lanes wide each direction?

Yep, this state has its prioritries screwed. We can afford to spend billions of dollars on more roadways yet it's like pulling teeth to get one measely rail line down Woodward.

**Junkin4Life** · January-07-12, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Is this the ultimate plan Michigan has to expand I-94 to 4 lanes wide each direction?

Yep, this state has its prioritries screwed. We can afford to spend billions of dollars on more roadways yet it's like pulling teeth to get one measely rail line down Woodward.

yes indeed

**Gistok** · January-07-12, 08:53 PM

Regardless... these bridges between Conner Ave. and I-96 need replacing... they've been doing patches on some of them [[such as the Van Dyke bridge) in the past, and if they don't rebuild them It's just a matter of time until a chunk of bridge comes down on some motorists.

**Scottathew** · January-07-12, 09:15 PM

**313WX** · January-07-12, 09:20 PM

5 lanes wide?

Seriously?

For the record, I do think the bridge work is necessary.

But yeah, this was already beaten to death in the original thread about it, but it would cost just as much to build and maintain this expansion project that it would a decent transit system for Detroit.

**Gistok** · January-07-12, 09:29 PM

On the west side service drives are virtually non-existent on I-94. But on the east side I-94 and Harper Ave. are intertwined into a series of partial service drives on the side of the freeway opposite Harper Ave. One would guess a continuous service drive would be nice... but that could cause problems with Harper, since in many stretches of the east side it is a commercial service drive of I-94.

**Gistok** · January-07-12, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

5 lanes wide?

Seriously?

For the record, I do think the bridge work is necessary.

The video shows 5 and sometimes 6 lanes in some spots... but the audio portion mentions only 4 lanes... which probably will be 5 lanes at each interchange.

**Wesley Mouch** · January-07-12, 09:41 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

...We can afford to spend billions of dollars on more roadways yet it's like pulling teeth to get one measely rail line down Woodward.

Regardless of whether this is the best thing MDOT can do, it sure is needed. And Detroit has too long had freeways that have not been as well maintained as the outlands.

**Scottathew** · January-07-12, 10:45 PM

We need to get the I-75 corridor project rolling that will add a fourth [[planned HOV) lane between 8 Mile and M-59.

Possible things that could happen there:

- Redo of Square Lake Exit\entrance so that exits and entrances are made on the RIGHT side, and not the left side
- 12 Mile SPUI [[Single Point Urban Interchange)
- 14 Mile exit offshoot directly to Concord
- Braiding of WB I-696 to I-75 ramp to give direct exit to I-75 service drive @ 11 Mile from ramp, instead of offering as part of merge\weave
- Widening of many bridges in Madison Heights\Royal Oak\Troy
- Demolition of Dallas bridge just south of Lincoln

**jt1** · January-07-12, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by 48091

We need to get the I-75 corridor project rolling that will add a fourth [[planned HOV) lane between 8 Mile and M-59.

Possible things that could happen there:

- Redo of Square Lake Exit\entrance so that exits and entrances are made on the RIGHT side, and not the left side
- 12 Mile SPUI [[Single Point Urban Interchange)
- 14 Mile exit offshoot directly to Concord
- Braiding of WB I-696 to I-75 ramp to give direct exit to I-75 service drive @ 11 Mile from ramp, instead of offering as part of merge\weave
- Widening of many bridges in Madison Heights\Royal Oak\Troy
- Demolition of Dallas bridge just south of Lincoln

Uh no. Politicians have been pushing for this for a long time. During that time I have spent a lot of time on 75 during rush hour and there is absolutely no need for expansion. With the exception of a brief delay at 696 and 14 mile there is no back up or slow down in traffic.

This would be an absolute waste of money.

**313WX** · January-07-12, 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by 48091

We need to get the I-75 corridor project rolling that will add a fourth [[planned HOV) lane between 8 Mile and M-59.

Possible things that could happen there:

- Redo of Square Lake Exit\entrance so that exits and entrances are made on the RIGHT side, and not the left side
- 12 Mile SPUI [[Single Point Urban Interchange)
- 14 Mile exit offshoot directly to Concord
- Braiding of WB I-696 to I-75 ramp to give direct exit to I-75 service drive @ 11 Mile from ramp, instead of offering as part of merge\weave
- Widening of many bridges in Madison Heights\Royal Oak\Troy
- Demolition of Dallas bridge just south of Lincoln

Why not...

SteveJ · January-08-12, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

5 lanes wide?

Seriously?

For the record, I do think the bridge work is necessary.

But yeah, this was already beaten to death in the original thread about it, but it would cost just as much to build and maintain this expansion project that it would a decent transit system for Detroit.

Yeah but the Feds will pay 90% and we badly need an expansion on I-94 for all the truck traffic heading between Illinois and Port Huron. The Feds also pay 90% when it comes to maintenance. Don't try to mix this with a bus system. Completely different topics.

**313WX** · January-08-12, 12:16 AM

I would think majority of the truck traffic to Port Huron turns off at I-69, since it's faster and they avoid the congestion in Detroit.

**Scottathew** · January-08-12, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by jt1

Uh no. Politicians have been pushing for this for a long time. During that time I have spent a lot of time on 75 during rush hour and there is absolutely no need for expansion. With the exception of a brief delay at 696 and 14 mile there is no back up or slow down in traffic.

This would be an absolute waste of money.

I partially disagree. I-75 is very congested between 8-Mile all the way through 14 Mile. This is due to several reasons:

- Traffic coming on from certain 12 Mile ramps is entering at 30 MPH
- Gardenia curve slowdown
- Not enough capacity at 696 Interchange
- 9 Mile curve slowdown

But north of 15 Mile road, you may be very right.

I'd love to see 13 Mile road ramps, but I know that will never happen, nor have I even seen it discussed.

A 12 Mile SPUI and elimination of the 30 MPH entrance ramps would alleviate a lot of congestion there even without adding lanes.

Although I would love to see improvement at I-75\I-94 too. Every morning SB-I75 is slow approaching I-94 because of huge backups from traffic wanting to get on WB I-94.

**wolverine** · January-08-12, 02:31 PM

Repairing bridges should be a priority because it's a public safety issue.....widening definitely not. A waste of public money. The roadway to future...right....to leave Detroit.

**313WX** · January-08-12, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by wolverine

Repairing bridges should be a priority because it's a public safety issue.....widening definitely not. A waste of public money. The roadway to future...right....to leave Detroit.

End thread.

**ordinary** · January-08-12, 07:21 PM

There are a number of bridges that have been rebuilt within the past 10 years, right? Wouldn't they have to completely re-do these bridges if the expressway were widened?

**Gistok** · January-08-12, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by ordinary

There are a number of bridges that have been rebuilt within the past 10 years, right? Wouldn't they have to completely re-do these bridges if the expressway were widened?

Not really... the complete rebuilds were either east of Conner or west of I-96. Some bridges did require some emergency work [[either on top or underneath) such as the Van Dyke bridge. And I believe the Woodward bridge received some major work as well. But the rebuilds have yet to happen...

**jackie5275** · January-08-12, 08:32 PM

They did do an upgrade to the lighting between I-96 & I-75 last year. That part doesn't need to be redone. Hopefully, the won't redo it, although the video seemed to suggest they would.

**Novine** · January-08-12, 08:38 PM

"I partially disagree. I-75 is very congested between 8-Mile all the way through 14 Mile. This is due to several reasons:

- Traffic coming on from certain 12 Mile ramps is entering at 30 MPH
- Gardenia curve slowdown
- Not enough capacity at 696 Interchange
- 9 Mile curve slowdown"

Other than adding lanes at I-696, if there is room, what of these can be changed? None of them as far as I can tell.

**EL Jimbo** · January-08-12, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Yeah but the Feds will pay 90% and we badly need an expansion on I-94 for all the truck traffic heading between Illinois and Port Huron. The Feds also pay 90% when it comes to maintenance. Don't try to mix this with a bus system. Completely different topics.

It's actually 80%. Also, doing this project won't come from a special pool of federal money that isn't currently being tapped. MDOT gets money from the feds every year to do projects. In order to do this mega project, it just means that the money used for it is not being used to do a whole bunch of other projects the money could go towards.

**takascar** · January-08-12, 09:02 PM

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Yeah but the Feds will pay 90% and we badly need an expansion on I-94 for all the truck traffic heading between Illinois and Port Huron. The Feds also pay 90% when it comes to maintenance. Don't try to mix this with a bus system. Completely different topics.

Yes, I agree. Also, social engineering is resented by Americans. People don't like to ride public transportation with smelly drunks and drug addicts, nor do they like to face the possibility of being robbed to and from work. People want their cars and they wont move to public transportation in large enough numbers. What would you suggest wrt I-94 if we don't spend the money on repairing it? Close it down? Because thats what you will need to do it the road is not upgraded. You can't force people to do what they don't want to do, even if you could, it would not be right.

**cub** · January-08-12, 09:28 PM

Is this the reason all the house fires along the I94 service drive between Vandyke and Gratiot east and west bound? HMMMMMMMM.

**Gistok** · January-08-12, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by EL Jimbo

It's actually 80%. Also, doing this project won't come from a special pool of federal money that isn't currently being tapped. MDOT gets money from the feds every year to do projects. In order to do this mega project, it just means that the money used for it is not being used to do a whole bunch of other projects the money could go towards.

It's not like this is being done in 1 year... this is likely a 5+ year project... so the money will be spread out....

I do agree with the need to widen I-75 between from 8-16 Mile. Why I-75 is 4 lanes near Frankenmuth escapes me??

I disagree with the need to change the Square Lake exit off of I-75. It may be a left Exit... but due to its' enormous size... the cost would never be worth it.

I also think that I-94 should be widened from 2 to 3 lanes from US-23 [[east of Ann Arbor) to Jackson Rd. [[west of Ann Arbor).