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We don’t want to be a downer, but savor your commute. In a few months, you could be cursing it.

The Michigan Department of Transportation says it plans to overhaul one of the busiest stretches of freeway in Metro Detroit next year, and the work will have a huge effect on commuters.

About 200,000 vehicles a day travel Interstate 275 between Five Mile Road and the Interstate 96 / Interstate 696 / M-5 interchange, and beginning next spring, those motorists will need to find alternate routes,

The entire stretch won’t be closed, as it was during the I-96 reconstruction. MDOT says it plans to take on the project one stretch at a time.

“This way, at least people will be able to travel either north or south,” Redford Township Supervisor Tracey Schultz Kobylarz told the TV station. “I think that will make it a bit easier for people.”

When the project is finished, 13 miles of concrete in both directions will have been replaced. The project also includes repair work on ramps and bridges.

The project should be finished in a single construction season, but the traffic flow could be affected for a year, MDOT said

For now, here’s what you can expect from your morning commute.

» Photo via Wikimedia / Creative Commons

YOUR MORNING TRAFFIC