The Michigan Department of Transportation has announced that I-696 will close for the massive Moving Macomb construction project on Friday, April 27 at 9 p.m.
According to MDOT, westbound I-696 will shut down between I-94 and I-75 in Macomb County for the project. They will start by closing the I-94 ramps to westbound I-696 and then close all other access points. It's expected the road will be fully closed by 5 a.m. Saturday, April 28.
The official detour for drivers will be westbound I-94 into Detroit, to reconnect with northbound I-75 and back to westbound I-696.
The $90 million project was announced in October 2017, and initially, it was supposed to be repaired in 2020, but the funding with the I-75 and I-696 modernization project was sped up.
"We either do this now or we may not come back to this until 2024," MDOT spokesperson Diane Cross said at the time.
The Macomb County plan is part of the entire I-696 reconstruction project which will span from I-275 in Oakland County all the way to I-94 in Macomb County; 28 Miles in all.
In Oakland County, all lanes will be open weekdays during daytime hours, but multiple lanes will be closed on nights and weekends, with a minimum of one lane open in each direction at all time. In all, there will be a maximum of 10 weekends where the freeway will be closed in Oakland County.
For more information on the project, including all of the detours, visit MovingMacomb.org.
