Road construction is causing road rage for drivers in metro Detroit as they encounter road work being done on detours.
The problem areas we examined are in Novi, northbound M-5 from 12 Mile to Pontiac Trail.
There’s no “official” detour but most people are driving on Haggerty Road and that was backed up for miles even during off peak times.
Why? We found a patching crew working on Haggerty. M-5 is a state project while Haggerty is part of the Road Commission for Oakland County.
Spokesman Craig Bryson tells 7 Investigator Jim Kiertzner that they county is getting $14 million more from the state and has to spend it on projects this season.
“There’s a lot of work going on. But its coordinated as well as can be,” Bryson said.
In Wayne County, the granddaddy of all projects is I-75 southbound from southwest Detroit to Northline Road.
The posted detour is on Fort Street and then a turn to Southfield Road in Lincoln Park. But Southfield is down to one lane for construction making it a double whammy for drivers.
MDOT officials also tell us, the posted detour planned by MDOT is I-96 westbound to I-275 southbound. Those two freeways can handle the tens of thousands of additional vehicles affected by the I-75 southbound closure.
In Macomb County, Hall Road has reduced lanes from M-53 to Garfield Road and drivers trying to avoid it are going several miles out of their way or through parking lots of businesses.
The good news is, the extra money we are now paying through the increase in fuel taxes and registration fees is fixing the roads we’ve had to encounter for years!
