Widening of I-75 to begin this summer in Oakland county (Detroit: construction, pros and cons)

[MS313]

Also adding Michigan's first HOV lanes
Patterson says work to widen I-75 in Oakland County to begin this summer

This project is going to take 20 years to complete? 20 years? lol unbelievable. The traffic from this construction is going to be a 20 year nightmare basically. This will probably stop the Oakland County sprawl from getting any worse. Now it will just likely head west into Washtenaw County and further up Macomb County near I-94.

Well, however is making this commute... be prepared.

[belleislerunner]

They were talking of widening 94 around WSU as far back as the late 90's. That's almost 20 years ago - time actually moves much faster than we think. But, yes, this is absurd. It should be done in 4 years total.

[North 42]

20 years is outrageous to complete this project. Ontario completely rebuilt and widened highway 401 here in Essex County in last decade, and it was completed in only 5 years, it stretched 35 miles from Windsor to Tilbury. Why on earth is the I 75 widening going to take 20 years?

[DTWflyer]

A few things:
- I-75 is due for a major reconstruction through most of Oakland County, additional lane or not. The original road and bridges from the 1960s/early 70's are showing their age. In many of the areas adding the additional lane makes sense to do at the same time. Basically filling in the median through much of the Troy section. South of 12 Mile is a lot more expensive and requires additional right-of-way

- The I-75/Square Lake interchange is in need of a major redesign, either way. The traffic entering from the Square Lake connector on to NB I75 is a left hand merge and you have a significant amount of traffic cutting across 4 lanes of traffic in a 1 mile section to be able to exit on to M-59. Redesigning this as a right-side entry eliminates all the lane cutting traffic to M-59. (While they are at it they need to re-do I-75 & M-59 which might be one of the scariest interchanges in Metro Detroit with the loop ramps and merging traffic adjacent to fast-moving through traffic)

- The time frame is insanely long. But the funding issue and priority of other projects I guess requires them to spread it out. Hopefully they get more than 15 years out of it, better than I-275 and the defective concrete.

- The HOV lane seems silly. Outside of peak rush hour the 4th lane isn't needed anyways.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by MS313

Also adding Michigan's first HOV lanes
Patterson says work to widen I-75 in Oakland County to begin this summer

This project is going to take 20 years to complete? 20 years? lol unbelievable. The traffic from this construction is going to be a 20 year nightmare basically. This will probably stop the Oakland County sprawl from getting any worse. Now it will just likely head west into Washtenaw County and further up Macomb County near I-94.

Well, however is making this commute... be prepared.

My question would be, are people still going to have a knee jerk antipathy for The City and inner ring in 20 years? Will they still want to live in bumf__k nowhere in 20 years? I suspect not. Seems like this is solving the problems of the past not the future.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by DTWflyer

- The time frame is insanely long. But the funding issue and priority of other projects I guess requires them to spread it out. Hopefully they get more than 15 years out of it, better than I-275 and the defective concrete.

Don't forget M14 thru Plymouth and that defective concrete.

[MS313]

I was surprised about the HOV lanes as well. Also, I agree a lot of the freeways in metro Detroit need work. By the time this is done I-94 will probably be working on adding another lane as well.

I also don't suspect Detroit to continue with it's sunbelt style sprawl in the next 20 years. We don't want to end up like Atlanta or Houston (roughly similar population but even more spread out).

[Tyryztoll]

20 years??? Wow.....I was weighing a job offer in Troy, too. This is a big con on the pros and cons list.

[animatedmartian]

2016: from north of Coolidge Highway to north of South Boulevard. (2 miles)
2018: from north of I-696 to south of 12 Mile Road. (2 miles)
2020: from north of Wattles Road to north of Coolidge Highway. (3 miles)
2022: from north of Rochester Road to north of Wattles Road. (2.5 miles)
2024: from north of 13 Mile Road to north of Rochester Road. (3 miles)
2026: from south of 12 Mile Road to north of 13 Mile Road. (1 mile)
2028: from north of 9 Mile Road to I-696. (1 mile)
2030: from north of M-102 (8 Mile Road) to north of 9 Mile Road. (1 mile)
Extensive I-75 reconstruction to kick off in July

To me this seems like really bite size projects. Though with the amount of traffic on 75 during rush hour, it's almost an inconvenient route in it of it's self. I'm in support of this widening because north and south of where the project ends, I-75 is already 4 lanes and I never understood why within the most populated area of the region it stayed 3 lanes.

[animatedmartian]

Also, I-75 between Flint and Bay City is 4 lanes so the idea that a wider freeway adds to sprawl seems lost on me. There's still nothing but farms and trees through most of Mid-Michigan.