OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – It’s been the cause of a lot of headaches for drivers, but northbound I-75 in Oakland County is finally expected to reopen.
Traffic will begin shifting to the new northbound lanes at 7 a.m. Friday.
For months, orange barrels and construction equipment called the busy freeway home, and drivers say they’re tired of it.
“It’s horrible,” Thesia Wilson said.
It’s really the only way Wilson can describe the construction in Troy. Wilson said it’s so bad, she finds ways to avoid it.
“It’s a nuisance, like I put off getting gas because I don’t want to come up the service drive because the construction is so bad,” she said.
The $224 million project involves reconstructing more than eight miles of pavement between Coolidge Highway and 13 Mile Road in each direction, improving 18 structures and upgrading drainage. And that’s just part of the plan.
Lynn Doski said he understands this is needed.
“I get it. You know the roads, have to be fixed but we all have to deal with it, in the meantime,” Doski said.
While the northbound lanes will reopen, only one southbound lane will be open, something that frustrates drivers.
“They need to figure out something, because this is not going to work, for me,” Bionisia Maxey said.
Michigan Department of Transportation officials said by the end of the day Tuesday, all northbound traffic should be using the new lanes except for an one mile area near Big Beaver Road, where only two lanes will be open due to the ongoing construction of a noise wall. That work will continue through the winter months.
The lanes will be open for the winter. In the spring, all traffic will be directed to the newly paved northbound side of the freeway so the southbound side can be rebuilt.