The Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association locked out union workers from Michigan road construction job sites for several weeks this fall.
It is a move that will impact people in the state for months.
The road work stoppage was only several weeks long, but it is leading to months-long delays. The City of Southfield says the Nine Mile Road Construction Project will not be done this year before winter.
The City of Southfield says the project between Lahser and Telegraph will now not be finished until June.
It is just one example of the work stoppage impact.
“I am dealing with a lot of construction for far too long,” said Rick Larabee, who owns Richard Reproductions, a commercial printing company on Nine Mile right where the construction is happening.
He says the project is costing him money.
“It makes everything more difficult," he says. "I have to do all the deliveries out. Everybody who was going to stop by, I don’t want them to be inconvenienced, so I run it out to them.”
Larabee is not alone. City leaders say they know this is a huge inconvenience.
They hope the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association and Road workers resolve their dispute over the winter so this doesn’t happen again next construction season.
“This is a road that carries thirteen thousand cars a day, typically, so that is thirteen thousand cars having to detour out of their way,” said Leigh Schulz, City Engineer.
