By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) representatives visited Scripps Middle School last Wednesday to inform local residents about the incoming ‘improvements? to Lapeer Rd.
The $29 million project, which is completely funded by the Michigan Department of Transportation, eliminates all direct left turns onto or off M-24 in Orion Township.
Construction mayhem will start next spring.
Project Manager Jeff Pitt said the drive would feel more like that of Woodward or Telegraph, with comparable u-turn turnarounds.
‘We’re going to make it operate like a true, Michigan boulevard,? he said.
This requires the complete reconfiguration of every intersection with a left-turn option.
Starting in April, every intersection from Harmon Rd. to south of Silverbell Rd. will be temporarily closed, bi-directional crossovers will be eliminated and turnarounds installed. ?
If there is time for phase two, the construction zone will make its way north through the Clarkston Rd. intersection up to Goldengate Street. ?
If there’s not, that will be slated for 2017.
The project
After patching and resurfacing the first 3.5 inches of M24 with hot-mix asphalt, the bulk of the work begins.
First, crews will do the outside lane and the outside shoulder in each direction. Then traffic will be shuttled to the outside as crews reconfigure every median on the inside.
With Silverbell Rd. and Clarkston Rd. the digging goes a little deeper. Each intersection is being fully reconstructed, with crews removing all the pavement down to the base, and replacing about three feet of the road.
Drivers will likely be in the cones all summer, as the goal is to complete the project by November.
At least one lane will be open at all times northbound and southbound on M-24. During peak morning hours, two lanes will be open, and the same goes for afternoon and night hours, which is subject to change.
Five to more-than-ten-minute delays can be expected while intersections are temporarily closed.
On weekends, only one lane each direction will be open.
Drivers will find new Michigan left turnarounds, three lanes at high volume sections, and additional traffic signals to aid the indirect left turns at each new crossover.
Pitt said using the indirect left turnarounds will give drivers more green time and eliminate some of the stop and go down M-24.
Project delays
MDOT uses a 1 to 10 scale when it comes to traffic delays. Anything over ten minutes is considered significant.
This will be the case for the Silverbell Rd. detour, which will take drivers down side streets for a ten-minute-or-more ride back to the main road.
Typically, however, an additional five minutes can be expected for drivers trying to get up or down M-24.
‘If they keep the two lanes open during the a.m. peak and the p.m. peak as is planned now, it should be about five minutes of delay. They might change that, and then the delay might increase significantly,? Wade Trim traffic consultant Lori Pawlik said. ?
The end goal
M-24 was selected for road improvements based on its condition.
The ultimate goal, Pitt said, was to increase safety.
While helping to eliminate the on-average 20 accidents at Silverbell and 24 accidents at Clarkston, the plan will also decrease traffic delays.
As it is, some of the intersections are operating a tad inefficiently.
‘Right now the way Silverbell operates, we have north and south bound M24 going at the same time. Then traffic stops, left turn movements on north and southbound go, and then all of M24 stops along with westbound Silverbell for east bound to go, and then the other three stop for westbound Silverbell to go. So there’s a lot of inefficiency in that design pattern.?
Getting rid of all those left turns and subsequent signal phases will help push more volumes of vehicles through the intersections.
‘Left movements won’t dictate how the traffic flows as much because we can coordinate everything up and down on either side as opposed to having both sides go exactly together.?
MDOT is also throwing in an additional ‘through-lane? at Clarkston Rd. and Silverbell Rd. to help push more cars through each major intersection. For about 3,000 feet, these two intersections will have three lanes, allowing heavy traffic to flow.
A different perspective
Comments were varied.
‘At least something is getting done. I believe it’s going to be more good than bad if the traffic flows better than it does now,? Buckhorn Lake resident Will Wilsher said.
Others felt the plan was only creating more problems.
Local business owner Dan Boorstein is one of these people, and refers to the design as the ‘rubber band? effect.
‘I’m not sure whose interests they are serving when their solutions are getting everybody to push metal faster through the whole corridor only to end at stop points at the interchange of I-75 and Lake Orion. I don’t quite understand,? Premier Self Storage owner Boorstein said.
He believes the design is only going to cause backups at those two ends.
‘If they’re going to come in and fund $29 million of improvements so they can move traffic faster, like snapping a rubber band really fast between down by the palace [Palace of Auburn Hills] and up to the Village of Lake Orion, then there should have been equal attention given to some of the outer roads that could help.?
Boorstein believes his business, and others along M-24, will be negatively affected.
None of the stakeholders or their opinions were considered in any of the planning process, he said.
The only interaction he had with MDOT was a notice that came in the mail two days before the public open house.
Premier Self Storage is located off of Premier Dr., where a bi-directional crossover on M-24 currently allows a direct turn over to his business. Boorstein said the new design will make it more cumbersome for clients to access his and other M24 businesses.
Boorstein previously was employed with Tetra Tech, a planning, engineering and consulting firm, and worked on several road programs in relationship to real estate and directly with road engineering.
‘There are a of lot things that can be done that are safer, I understand that. They use that not as a badge of honor, they use it as armor against themselves so any time somebody comes in and says, ‘hey wait a second, I’m not sure this is the best way to handle things, and I’m not sure your process here has been the fairest’do it in a manner of safety. It cloaks them?’They’re coming in and saying they’re improving things. Well no, they’re not, not for myself and a lot of other businesses in the area.?
MDOT will make a request for construction bids leading up to construction season, and work will begin promptly in the spring. All questions and comments can be directed to MDOT at 248-451-0001.