WARREN, Mich. – The city of Warren is spending thousands of dollars to battle rats due to the ongoing I-696 construction project.
The office of Mayor Jim Fouts said the city is spending $125,000 to bait rats that are fleeing the construction zone, which runs six miles east to west through the middle of Warren. The mayor's office said a rat contractor has set up 128 bait boxes trap locations and individual traps along the eastbound and westbound fence lines on I-696.
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"The average bait consumed by rats is 41.5 percent from one inspection to the next one," reads a statement from Fouts. "If we didn't have this baiting program, the rats would be in our neighborhoods."
The bait box program actually began last April and will continue until I-696 construction is completed, Fouts said. The heavy pounding and excavation causes rats to seek shelter, food and water elsewhere, said the mayor.
"Fortunately, we anticipated this program and the city council appropriated the needed funds,” said Fouts, who first started the city-wide bait box program five years ago.
Fouts said the rat baiting budget is $275,000 for the 2017-2018 budget year. He also said the new 90-gallon rubbish containers distributed to all Warren residents this month will reduce the rat population in the city because of less garbage from overflowing containers on city streets.
I-696 construction: Here's the plan for reopening
Meanwhile, the I-696 construction is set to stop until spring. Traffic is supposed to be free to travel in both directions by next week. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) released a reopening timeline earlier this week with a target date of Monday, Jan. 7:
Wednesday, Jan. 2
- On Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., only two eastbound lanes will be open and exits to Groesbeck Highway and Dequindre and Mound roads will intermittently close. Additionally, northbound and southbound ramps to I-696 from I-75 will be closed. After 3 p.m., crews will begin removing temporary traffic control equipment.
Thursday, Jan. 3 to Monday, Jan. 7
- From Thursday, Jan. 3 to Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, crews will begin preparing westbound I-696 to return to normal traffic operations. Pavement markings will be replaced, traffic control devices will be removed and there will be lane closures on eastbound and westbound I-94.
MDOT said construction isn't complete yet, but the project -- which started in April -- will have to stop before any major winter weather comes in. Work will pick up again in the spring.
The $90 million construction project kicked off back in April, shutting down westbound I-696 between I-94 and I-75. Eastbound lanes have been closed on several weekends during the project. Eastbound traffic has been traveling on the newly repaved westbound side for months while westbound traffic remains shut down.
MDOT first announced the massive interstate construction project in October 2017, saying due to poor condition the freeway must undergo concrete replacement on this stretch in Macomb County.
According to MDOT, I-696 carries about 150,000 vehicles a day through Macomb County.