FeedsWork starts on area roadways
Crews were scheduled to begin work this week to add a lane to the southbound I-275 exit ramp to Michigan Avenue in Canton Township.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the exit ramp will be reduced to a single lane as crews begin work to widen it.
On July 9, the ramp will be completely closed and traffic will be detoured to the Ecorse Road exit until the $800,000 project wraps up in the middle of August.
The ramp was scheduled to be widened last year, but the project was delayed when crews discovered the bridge that carries the ramp over the Rouge River was in major disrepair and needed to be rehabilitated.
When finished, the ramp will have reconfigured traffic signals to accommodate an additional lane turning onto eastbound Michigan Avenue toward the City of Wayne. A reconfigured median will prevent semitrailers from topping the curb.
Crews working for MDOT also expect to resume a project on Monday to replace a bridge over Fellows Creek on Ford Road east of Canton Center.
Traffic will be reduced to one lane each way between Canton Center and Sheldon roads. The $1.3 million project began last summer but was suspended last fall because of utility conflicts, according to township officials.
Workers replaced the south side of the bridge last summer and will begin rebuilding the north side of the structure on Monday. Aesthetic improvements are also planned, such as landscaping, sidewalks and decorative lighting. Traffic will be shifted to the eastbound lanes until the project is completed at the end of September.
Left turns will not be permitted for traffic traveling eastbound or westbound on Ford in the construction area.
Meanwhile, a major county project is less than a month away.
“It’s getting to that kind of time of year where it’s going to get busy fast,” said Tim Faas, municipal services director for Canton.
A $1.9 million project to reconstruct Lilley Road between Ford Road and Willow Circle is slated to start in the middle of July. Lilley will also be expanded by one lane between Willow Circle and Hanford Road and will be resurfaced between Hanford and Warren roads. The project also calls for 1,200 linear feet of sidewalk along the west side of Lilley, between Hanford and Warren.
