Get ready for some heavy construction and the corresponding traffic tieups along Michigan Avenue in Dearborn when a major project to replace two bridges over the Rouge River begins in a few weeks.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) tells us that construction on the new Michigan Avenue bridges — located between Evergreen and the Southfield Freeway — will begin once a temporary crossover road is put down. This will allow MDOT to shift eastbound traffic on Michigan Avenue to the westbound side while work on the eastbound bridge begins. Traffic will then shift again as the work is completed on the westbound bridge.

Many motorists have probably seen phone and electric crews working on the side of the road in recent weeks wondering what was taking place. Well, those crews were working to ensure their lines would not interfere with the upcoming construction.

MDOT says the bridge project will be completed by November.

While the bridge work is taking place, MDOT says the resurfacing of Michigan Avenue from Evergreen to Greenfield Road also will get underway. This stretch of pavement is in relatively good shape, but MDOT says they are taking action now to stretch out its usable lifespan (MDOT likely doesn’t want  a repeat of Michigan Avenue in west Dearborn either).

In other construction, part two of the work on the deck of the Evergreen Road bridge over Ford Road kicks off in April and is expected to be completed in July. This year the southbounds lanes of the Evergreen bridge will be replaced, along with entrance and exit ramps. 

Finally, for those of you who travel Telegraph and might be wondering when that bridge work, just north of Warren, will be completed, MDOT tells us it will be in May. That project took four years, double what was expected, because once crews opened up the road they found that the entire bridge structure was rotting.

So rather than minor repairs, all four bridges — two over Hinds Drive and two over the Rouge River — were made new again. With the scope of the project changing so drastically and all new bridge beams having to be ordered, MDOT says the contractor was essentially free to work at his own pace to get the project done.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 8:22 pm and is filed under Around Town. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.