$127M I-75 Widening Project Creates 'Oakland County Main Street'

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI – An Interstate 75 widening project expected to begin this summer will ease traffic congestion and help companies along the busy freeway move goods and conduct business more efficiently, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

The $127 million “Oakland County Main Street” project will add a lane of traffic on both north- and southbound I-75 from Eight Mile to M-59, Patterson said in a statement issued after his 2016 State of the County speech Wednesday night.

“Companies along I-75, like Fiat Chrysler, that support I-75’s modernization, will see their employees in a safer commute; it will give companies along I-75 the ability to move goods more quickly through that corridor; and certainly improve the quality of life by easing some of the worst traffic congestion in our area,” he said.

The first phase of the project will begin this summer in the Square Lake Road area.

If one were to draw a line three miles east and three miles west of I-75 from Eight Mile Road to Lapeer Road, it would encompass over 23,000 business — more than half of all the businesses in Oakland County — and 339,000 employees, about half the county’s workforce.

The Michigan Department of Transportation also announced the widening project Wednesday. Among the ideas MDOT is researching is the Oakland County Connected Vehicle Task Force’s goal to make the stretch a connected freeway, which would require the installation of special infrastructure needed to communicate directly with connected vehicles.

Many hurdles remain before that stretch of I-75 could become a connected freeway, but Patterson said it presents intriguing possibilities for Oakland County.

“We know the auto companies and suppliers would utilize it as a test bed to advance their connected vehicle programs,” he said. “And it would be happening right here in the heart of Oakland County.”

Below is a Michigan Department of Transportation video describing the project.

“Amazingly Strong. Vibrant.”

Oakland County economy has reached what economists call full employment, at or below 5.0 percent unemployment. With an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, Oakland County’s unemployment rate is better than the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.

“The state of the Oakland County is strong,” Patterson said. “Amazingly strong. Vibrant.”

The Emerging Sectors program works with companies in the knowledge-based economy, 371 businesses have made a total investment of more than $3.3 billion, created 37,000 jobs and retained 21,000, for total job creation of 58,000 positions.

Since the launch of Emerging Sectors in 2004, Oakland County has also aggressively pursued traditional companies representing 243 traditional successes for a total investment of over $2.3 billion creating 13,700 jobs and retaining over 19,200 jobs, a total of 33,100 jobs.

Other economic bright spots cited by Patterson:

• In the first four years of the recovery from the Great Recession, Oakland County gained back over 79,000 jobs, most of which are in the medium to high-wage category. University of Michigan economists George Fulton and Donald Grimes conservatively forecasted an additional 49,000 jobs through the end of 2017.
• The Oakland County Economic Development Corporation and the Oakland County Business Finance Corporation helped finance 648 small businesses over 35 years. A total investment of $1.5 billion created more than 26,500 jobs.
• Main Street Oakland County, the first countywide Main Street program in North America serving Oakland County’s 32 downtowns has seen 940 businesses invest $668 million creating 7,000 jobs since inception in 2000.
• With a budget balanced through 2021 and a AAA bond rating retained since 1998, Oakland County has transitioned to investing for sustainability.

From Recovery to Sustainability

Patterson said that when “the perfect storm of the Great Recession” hit in the 2000s, the county was already using multi-year budgeting practices.

“we quickly reduced and reorganized county government between 2008 and 2011,” Patterson said. “That enabled us to absorb the greatest percentage loss of property value of any county in Michigan.

“From 2012 to 2015, we transitioned to maintaining and stabilizing our budget,” he continued. “Our ‘thoughtful management versus crisis management’ approach helped us weather the storm of the Great Recession and we began to see skies clearing on the fiscal horizon.”

Oakland County’s priorities have now shifted to investing for sustainability to attract new employees and improve the government campus to better serve customers.

Patterson proposed county employee incentives that would include six weeks of paid parental leave for both new mothers and fathers, on top of the maternity benefits currently provided by the county.

The Oakland County Board of Commissioners will determine the details of the plan, but the goal will be to provide six weeks of paid leave for both parents.

“Paid parental leave is a benefit current and future employees look for. It is a benefit for a new parent that provides a real advantage to families,” Patterson said. “t is a benefit that can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of families,” Patterson said.

Other proposed investments for sustainability include:

• Children’s Village, whose staff care for some of Oakland County’s most vulnerable children, has collaborated with the Oakland Integrated Healthcare Network to open a medical clinic on site staffed by doctors and nurses. It is the only juvenile care center in Michigan that now provides a fulltime medical clinic for kids. The doctors in this clinic provide preventative medical care instead of merely being on call for emergencies.
• Oakland County will build a new animal control and pet adoption center slated to open in 2017 on its main campus in Pontiac. It will enhance the care Animal Control Division gives to the more than 5,000 pets that come through its doors every year and optimize the likelihood of adoption.
• Oakland County’s Information Technology Department will install a new Unified Communications and Wireless System to replace an aging phone and messaging system. This new system should improve county employees’ ability to communicate externally with the public internally with each other. The new system looks to address the need to communicate and do business with a more technically savvy public.

Zika Virus Precautions

Patterson also announced that Oakland County is looking ahead and preparing to respond should the mosquito carrying the Zika virus make it to Michigan. He outlined what Oakland County Health Division has accomplished so far which includes:

• Posting Zika virus travel advisory information to the county’s webpage.

• Sharing what is known about the Zika virus, the mosquito that carries it, testing protocol for pregnant women who visited any of the infected countries, and EPA approved repellants with the local public health, emergency preparedness and medical communities.
• Tracking phone calls concerned about the Zika Virus that come into the Health Division each day.

The county’s Health Division won’t wait for the Zika virus to be identified in Michigan before making a plan. A portion of the county’s West Nile virus budget will be used to combat the virus, and the mosquito response budget will increase by $160,000 to about $350,000.

Public Health Initiatives

The Oakland County Health Division has developed a program that will be a model for the rest of Michigan and county health departments around the country with ECHO, or Energizing Connections for Healthier Oakland, Patterson said.

Over the past year, Oakland County and its public health partners have conducted a comprehensive countywide assessment of residents and businesses to get the big picture of health practices in the county and the health status of residents.

This is the first time that such a survey has been done on this scale in Michigan. The Health Division looked at 11 core categories which included health resource availability, behavioral risk factors, maternal and child health, and environmental health.

“We will utilize this data to reshape the focus of our public health policies and initiatives in a way that will have the greatest impact on improving the overall health of our residents and thereby improving the quality of life in the county,” Patterson said.

In June, Oakland County and its 32 health partners in this effort will announce a Community Health Improvement Plan based on the ECHO survey. Patterson will ask Oakland County businesses and organizations to align their wellness strategies with ECHO.

“If we are able to get the buy-in we are seeking from Oakland County companies, we will move the needle on public health forward in Oakland County,” Patterson said.

Air Transportation Expo Will Return

As robust as Oakland County’s recovery has been in other sectors, general aviation hasn’t bounced back, Patterson said.

A second Air Transportation Expo will be held Sept. 22 to familiarize corporate decision makers about the airport’s modern facilities, aviation businesses based there, and how using the airport could save them money.

» Photo via Wikimedia / Creative Commons