Royal Oak, Other Cities Fight I-75 Widening Project

ROYAL OAK, MI – Oakland County Executive L. Brooks has touted the Interstate 75 widening project set to begin this spring as “Oakland County’s Main Street,” but officials in Royal Oak and several other communities think it does little to help their communities and think money should be spent on regional transit instead.

The Royal Oak City Commission will consider a resolution against the 20-year, $1 billion widening project at a meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, The Daily Tribune reports.

SEE ALSO

• I-75 Widening Creates ‘Oakland County’s Main Street’: Patterson

Leaders in Royal Oak, Ferndale, Hazel Park and other communities have a long history of opposing the I-75 project, which they say doesn’t benefit them and contributes to urban sprawl.

In Oakland County, the widening project will add a lane in each direction between M-59 and Eight Mile Road. The first phase of the project Patterson announced at his State of the County address would repair and widen the freeway from South Boulevard in Auburn Hills and Coolidge Road in Troy.

In his annual address, Patterson hailed the project as an engine for economic development and key quality-of-life driver.

“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.

Cities also have to come up with millions to fund their share of the improvements — in Royal Oak’s case, between $5 million and $10 million. State Sen. Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy, has introduced legislation to eliminate the cities’ share, but the status of the bill is unclear.

» For more about this, go to The Daily Tribune.