$1B Project Rebuilding, Widening I-75 Begins in July

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – A $127 million project to reconstruct and widen a crumbling, congested 3-mile segment of Interstate 275 through Bloomfield Township, Auburn Hills and Troy will begin in July, the Michigan Department of Transportation said.

The project is the first of nine phases in a $1 billion project that will rebuild 17 miles of the freeway over the next decade and a half, MDOT said a news release.

MDOT’s announcement came on the heels of Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson’s announcement of the benefits of the Oakland County stretch of the road, which he called “Oakland County’s Main Street” and said would allow businesses in the I-75 corridor to more efficiently conduct commerce.

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• $127M I-75 Widening Project Creates ‘Oakland County Main Street’

The I-75 reconstruction plan call for the reconstruction of the road and the addition of a commuter — or high-occupancy vehicle — lane in each direction between South Boulevard and M-102 (Eight Mile Road). Travel on the new lanes would be restricted to vehicles carrying two or more occupants during peak travel areas, generally 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. on weekdays.

Besides the addition of commuter lanes, five bridges will be replaced in the first phase of the project, the interchange at Square Lake Road will be reconfigured and improvements will be made to the Adams Road carpool lot.

“Creating right lane exit and entrance ramps from northbound I-75 to Square Lake Road will address a high-crash location on the freeway. Despite constructing two new bridges to accommodate the interchange modernization, no additional right of way will be necessary as the reconstruction of the freeway will realign northbound I-75 adjacent to the southbound lanes within the existing freeway footprint,” MDOT said.

The entire project, in the planning stages for 20 years, encompasses approximately 18 miles of freeway from M-102 to south of M-59 and has a current daily traffic volume of 103,000 to 174,000. The freeway was built between the late 1050s and early 1970s. but has not received comprehensive corridor improvements since that time, MDOT said.

Here is the project schedule, according to MDOT:

• 2016: from north of Coolidge Highway to north of South Boulevard.
• 2018: from north of I-696 to south of 12 Mile Road.
• 2020: from north of Wattles Road to north of Coolidge Highway.
• 2022: from north of Rochester Road to north of Wattles Road.
• 2024: from north of 13 Mile Road to north of Rochester Road.
• 2026: from south of 12 Mile Road to north of 13 Mile Road.
• 2028: from north of 9 Mile Road to I-696.
• 2030: from north of M-102 (8 Mile Road) to north of 9 Mile Road.