FeedsCity road projects are on schedule
The progress along Michigan Avenue may seem slow to some, but it is steady, Wayne officials said this week.
“It’s going fine,” said City Engineer Ramzi El-Gharib. “They’re on time.”
Work has steadily progressed on the Michigan Avenue reconstruction project since it got under way in the middle of February. The project calls for a complete removal of the old roadway along with the installation of new water and sewer lines from just east of Howe Road bust beyond the railroad viaduct on the west side of town.
After the $7 million project is completed, the four-lane roadway will be reduced to three lanes with dedicated parking spaces on either side. The sidewalk and streetscape features will be replaced where they existed before and extended further west down Michigan Avenue, too.
The project will be funded primarily through the state and federal government. The City of Wayne is contributing $1.4 million to the project, through the Downtown Development Authority.
El-Gharib said he anticipates work will start along Michigan Avenue west in preparation for the paving there.
“You should start seeing some people there working on the streetscape, or from Detroit Edison working on the utilities,” he said.
The plan calls for the northern portion of the road to be paved—and the streetscape work finished—by the beginning of July. El-Gharib said the asphalt would be put down in sections, and the new road way would be open up after it was all put down. Then construction workers would start on the southern portion of the road.
“They’re moving,” he said. “We’ve had no serious problems with them.”
The Michigan Avenue reconstruction project is the largest road project going on this year, but it’s not the only capital improvement project. Workers are also replacing the sewer lines near Moore and Walker streets and are on pace to finish the latest phase of the sewer slip-lining project before the December deadline.
A smaller project, minor fixes to Eastlawn at Clinton and Gertrude streets, included the installation of two grassy islands where there was once a sea of curved concrete. That’s almost done, too, according to El-Gharib.
“All the concrete is down there,” he said. “We’re thinking about opening it up this week.”
