Dequindre Road trail crossing expands Shelby Township trail access, safety

The addition of a pedestrian refuge island in the centerline of Dequindre Road where the Macomb Orchard Trail meets the Clinton River Trail will immediately bolster Shelby Township’s first-class trail system and act as step one to expand the system.

Early stages of the project included closure of Dequindre Road to all traffic between Avon and Parkdale roads April 28. The closure will remain until roughly May 16 and the project as a whole should be completed by the end of May.

“Weather permitting we are very hopeful that this closure will be out of the way before May 20,” Shelby Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis said. “It’s a big headache for our local commuters and residents, but it really will facilitate a much better project.

“Closing the road should shave three to four weeks off the project, so it will shorten the overall amount of time drivers are disrupted. And we will have a much safer trail for our residents and guests who enter Shelby Township on the trails.”

Along with reductions in the duration of the project, project engineers advised that closing Dequindre Road for the project will minimize traffic congestion in the construction zone and maintain a higher level of safety while executing the work.

While the closure is in place, a detour route will be posted by the Road Commission of Oakland County that runs on 23 Mile Road to Shelby Road to 24 Mile Road and back to Dequindre and vice versa.

The crossing is also a key part in the Township‘s plan to unite Shelby Township’s Stony Creek Metropark with the newly constructed Chief Gene Shepherd Park in addition to Oakland County’s Clinton River and Paint Creek trails.

The $20,000 that the Board of Trustees approved for the Township’s share of the trail crossing was used as part of   $177,097.50 that Parks, Recreation and Maintenance Director Joe Youngblood, Parks Recreation and Maintenance Business Manager Cindy Martel, Deputy Supervisor Brad D. Bates and engineer Carol Thurber from Fazal Khan and Associates compiled  to salvage a portion of what was originally a $300,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund after the original $500,000 in matching funds from a $1.9 million 2010 federal line item were not available.

The original plan would have connected existing trails in the city of Utica to Stony Creek by way of River Bends, Holland Ponds, and Chief Gene Shepherd Parks and the Macomb Orchard Trail, but it was tabled after bids for that portion of the project exceeded cost estimates by more than 10 percent.

“Because of quick thinking and extensive knowledge of the projects we already had in place, Shelby Township’s team on this project was able to salvage enough funds to connect the Macomb Orchard Trail to Chief Gene Shepherd Park and the Yates Trail near 23 Mile and Dequindre roads,” Stathakis said. “This brings together two of our community’s top recreation assets.”

Because the Township was able to secure roughly $177,000 of Township funds already earmarked for trail improvements, it was able to bring home $108,543.62 for the construction of the trail from the entry to the Macomb Orchard Trail on Dequindre Road to Chief Gene Shepherd Park and the Yates Trail just south of 23 Mile Road.