FeedsMDOT to re-open some side streets in Wayne
Business owners will soon see some relief in the City of Wayne.
Officials from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) agreed this week to re-open three side streets that had been closed for the Michigan Avenue Reconstruction Project, according to Peter McInerney, community development director for the City of Wayne.
Less than a month into the nine-month project, businesses have complained that the closure of the sidestreets has had a negative impact on them, he said.
“The interests of our businesses are crucial to us,” he said.
The three streets that will reopen on the south side of the road are Sophia, Williams and Newberry, he said.
Those streets have been periodically closed on the north side of the road, too, as major infrastructure work has taken place there.
The reconstruction project is a 1.4 mile long project that begins near Howe Road and runs through the heart of downtown west to the railroad viaduct. It’s a $7 million project, the bulk of which is paid for with state and federal funds. The City of Wayne is contributing about $1.3 million through the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) fund; that will help pay for the aesthetic improvements designed along the project.
The Wayne Chamber of Commerce will host a meeting with business owners at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday to brainstorm ideas on how to minimize the impact of the year-long work. Those interested in attending should park in the municipal lot behind the office, off Sims Avenue.
In addition to a completely reconstructed road surface, the project includes new water and sewer lines, as well as the extension of the DDA streetscape. Brick pavers and decorative lights will be installed further west along the road, which will be reduced to three lanes and constructed with parking bumpouts on either side. It’s scheduled to be complete in the middle of November.
The project has caused plenty of traffic snarls already, McInerney said, since the road has been reduced to a single lane going west.
“The fire department initially had a problem with the radius on some of the turns, but that’s since been resolved,” McInerney said.
It wasn’t such an easy fix to get the large volume of semi-truck traffic to follow the rules, though. Drivers continually tried to turn onto the westbound lane of Michigan Avenue and ended up getting hung up on poles are driving over sidewalks, he said.
“Trucks cannot make that turn,” McInerney said.
The posted detour signs were initially confusing to truck drivers, but that has since been resolved, too, he said. Ideally, city officials would like them to drive down Wayne Road to Van Born. Police have begun to cite drivers for ignoring the posted detours, too.
Resolving the truck issue was one thing that caused a delay in the opening of the sidestreets, according to McInerney.
“The principal idea was to resolve the issue of trucks driving west on Michigan Avenue,” he said. “That was so disruptive that they felt they couldn’t re-open the side streets.”
Officials have since given the okay, but the barrels have not been removed in all locations. McInerney said it might take a few days before it happens.
“You’d like to get it fixed immediately,” he said, “but it doesn’t always work like that.”
