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Office of County Executive
Mark A. Hackel
(586) 469-7001

Construction season barrels into Macomb County

By Bob Hoepfner, Macomb County Department of Roads

This coming construction season, we expect the Orange Barrel Polka to be in full swing. The Department of Roads continues to take advantage of every federal dollar available to us to improve the roads in Macomb County.

With a price tag of approximately $6 million, the most costly project this year will be the reconstruction and widening of Metropolitan Parkway from Groesbeck to Gratiot. This extends our prior widening projects on Metro Parkway to better accommodate the high traffic volumes on this busy thoroughfare. North Avenue will also be reconstructed and widened from Hall Road to 21 Mile, as well as Van Dyke between West Road and Campground. A center turn lane and road rehabilitation is scheduled for Gratiot Avenue from 26 Mile to New Haven Road in conjunction with MDOT’s scheduled intersection improvement at Gratiot and M-19 in the Village of New Haven.

Concrete pavement repairs will continue on Mound Road from 18 Mile to Hall Road in Sterling Heights and from I-696 to Rinke in Warren. Garfield Road from Millar to 17 Mile will also undergo concrete pavement repairs.

Bridge replacements are planned this year for Lakeshore Drive and Archer Drive in Harrison Township, Chapman Road over Deer Creek in Macomb Township, and 33 Mile over the north branch of the Clinton River and Irwin Road over Deer Creek, both in Armada Township.

Luchtman Road will be paved from 25 Mile to 26 Mile in Macomb Township, as well as Powell Road from 30 Mile north and M-53 east of Powell.

An additional $3 million in asphalt and concrete repairs will be conducted on primary roads, local roads and residential streets throughout the county.

We will also be updating around 5,800 feet of guardrail along our roadways at nine locations to enhance the safety of motorists. The largest traffic signal project of the year includes upgrading 14 traffic signal locations for $1.7 million, incorporating the latest safety and efficiency technologies. We will also continue replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs for traffic signals. LEDs are more than 80 percent more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs and also help reduce maintenance costs. We will also perform our annual pavement marking maintenance activities that would lay more than 7 million feet of pavement markings, making them more conspicuous at a cost of $420,000.

As always, this road season promises to be a busy, yet productive one!