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Highway and Road Construction Updates


GRDadof3

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11 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

The next phase of the Ionia/Michigan/I-196/Division ramp reconfiguration/addition is set to begin. Can anyone decipher this? Draw a graphic? :)

This project consists of the Reconstruction of Ionia Avenue from Michigan Street to 750 feet North of Michigan Street; Division Avenue from 1200 feet South of Fairbanks Street to 770 feet south of Fairbanks Street; and I-196 Westbound On-Ramp at Ionia Avenue and Division Avenue. This work will provide a new on-ramp to westbound I-196 at Division Avenue and will connect Ionia Avenue to Division Avenue from Michigan Street. The existing on-ramps to I-196 Eastbound and Westbound from Ionia Avenue will be improved. Connection to Ionia Avenue north of I-196 will be maintained from Newberry Street and Fairbanks Street. Work includes pavement removal, new storm sewer, traffic signals, street lighting, concrete curb and gutter, American with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant ramps, hot mixed asphalt pavement, street trees, pavement markings and final restoration.

 

Sounds kind of like this mockup you did a few years back:
 

25830626386_5ecb151623_o.jpg&key=5a9fa56

According to the measurements, the section of Ionia being reconstructed is between the Ottawa exit overpass and Michigan, and the section of Division being reconstructed is between the Ottawa exit overpass and the highway overpass. But it does seem to indicate that Ionia won't be removed north of that, so probably what we see here in red with Ionia still poking through on the North side? Or maybe Ionia will dead-end and be cut off from the rest of itself?

Edited by tSlater
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6 hours ago, tSlater said:

Sounds kind of like this mockup you did a few years back:
 

25830626386_5ecb151623_o.jpg&key=5a9fa56

According to the measurements, the section of Ionia being reconstructed is between the Ottawa exit overpass and Michigan, and the section of Division being reconstructed is between the Ottawa exit overpass and the highway overpass. But it does seem to indicate that Ionia won't be removed north of that, so probably what we see here in red with Ionia still poking through on the North side? Or maybe Ionia will dead-end and be cut off from the rest of itself?

Oh I didn't make that, I think MDOT or NOBL did maybe? That sort of makes sense though, except the part about abandoning Ionia north of 196 which I don't think they're doing now. 

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https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/bipartisan-ex-legislators-propose-gas-tax-hike-fix-michigan-roads

"Under the Consensus Policy Project proposal, close to $2.5 billion would be raised in total over nine years by increasing the state’s regular and diesel gas taxes by 5 cents per year. The group estimates its proposal would raise $275 million the first year, $550 million in year two and $825 million by the third year, eventually nearing $2.5 billion by year nine."

I am all for this, let the people that drive the most pay to fix the damn roads.

I would think $2.5 Billion per year would lead to some significant projects.  The only question is... Would west MI see much of that money or would it go to Lansing and Metro Detroit like it does now?

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1 hour ago, Floyd_Z said:

I would think $2.5 Billion per year would lead to some significant projects.  The only question is... Would west MI see much of that money or would it go to Lansing and Metro Detroit like it does now?

Now's the time to reach out to our state legislative representatives. Otherwise I imagine it would be status quo like always.

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1 hour ago, Floyd_Z said:

https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/bipartisan-ex-legislators-propose-gas-tax-hike-fix-michigan-roads

"Under the Consensus Policy Project proposal, close to $2.5 billion would be raised in total over nine years by increasing the state’s regular and diesel gas taxes by 5 cents per year. The group estimates its proposal would raise $275 million the first year, $550 million in year two and $825 million by the third year, eventually nearing $2.5 billion by year nine."

 I am all for this, let the people that drive the most pay to fix the damn roads.

 I would think $2.5 Billion per year would lead to some significant projects.  The only question is... Would west MI see much of that money or would it go to Lansing and Metro Detroit like it does now?

This article doesn't really spell it out, but I would prefer that any legislative fix (ie, tax hike), means that all gas tax money goes towards infrastructure.  Michigan already has one of the highest gas taxes in the country, because so much of that money gets diverted elsewhere.  If that also means an income tax hike, so be it, but a consumption tax should go towards said consumption.

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17 hours ago, cutlervillegr said:

This article doesn't really spell it out, but I would prefer that any legislative fix (ie, tax hike), means that all gas tax money goes towards infrastructure.  Michigan already has one of the highest gas taxes in the country, because so much of that money gets diverted elsewhere.  If that also means an income tax hike, so be it, but a consumption tax should go towards said consumption.

This is a handy dandy info sheet:

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/RealityCheckMyth6_473561_7.pdf

You can't really say that Michigan has the "highest gas tax in the country" because how States collect revenue for transportation varies from State to State and even MSA to MSA (some urban counties collect additional sales tax for transportation, like Denver and Chicago). Another State may have a lower per gallon fuel tax but they make up road funding elsewhere. 

A lot of the Michigan gas tax collected now goes to pay down debt for transportation/infrastructure debt from previous administrations (Engler and Granholm). All because we haven't been collecting enough for decades. 

It feels like we Michiganders have been arguing about this for at least a decade online. I really, really hope that clearer heads prevail this time and something is done that puts us on the right path. 

 

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12 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

A gas tax just makes the most sense to me.  We're two peninsulas so tolls wouldn't really work/  Maybe we could just charge all the Chicagolanders who invade our beaches in the summer?

We could. Charge an out-of-state fee for permits to parks and beaches. A lot of them pay non-homestead tax rates on cottages but none of that goes toward transportation except maybe the local county roads. 

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8 minutes ago, jonrapley said:

I am really confused by that map. What happens to Ionia ave? It seems like you are forced to go on to 196 West or Division Ave. 

It was originally going to be completely vacated but now it's more of a service drive for those parking lots. 

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8 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

It was originally going to be completely vacated but now it's more of a service drive for those parking lots. 

That seems silly not to vacate it.  What's the reason the driveways for those lots can't be extended to division.  

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3 hours ago, jonrapley said:

They should at least look into turning Ionia into a bike path if they were planning to use it as a service drive for the parking lots. 

I think that was part of the original plan too. But then they put the dedicated bike paths up on North Division and I think that was a lower cost option. I don't know the details behind the decisions. 

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1 minute ago, GRDadof3 said:

I think that was part of the original plan too. But then they put the dedicated bike paths up on North Division and I think that was a lower cost option. I don't know the details behind the decisions. 

It just seems to me like vacating the road which is redundant with Division and a pain in the butt to use, could open up that stretch of Division to development and foot traffic, in what is otherwise a dead zone. 

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17 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Here's the redesign of the I-196 on ramp. North is to the right. 

713546137_i196onramprebuild.thumb.JPG.18caf8da9a68629ac0b4db0c19a9ded1.JPG

 

I'm not sure why the City is so dedicated to further eliminating connections between Monroe North and Downtown. We should be reestablishing the traditional grid, not continue to remove it. Dumping all of the traffic onto only Monroe and Division is not how you reduce traffic congestion. 

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4 hours ago, demhem said:

I'm not sure why the City is so dedicated to further eliminating connections between Monroe North and Downtown. We should be reestablishing the traditional grid, not continue to remove it. Dumping all of the traffic onto only Monroe and Division is not how you reduce traffic congestion. 

I think the main goal of this was to take more cars off of Michigan Street, which is expected grow with traffic exponentially. Now people headed out of downtown and going West on I-196 can take North Division and avoid Michigan and Ionia traffic. 

It looks like they've definitely enhanced the pedetrian paths up to Ionia beyond the onramp. And mpchicago is right, I believe the ultimate goal is to make Ionia  a linear park with a bike expressway like Riverside Park. 

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9 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I think that was part of the original plan too. But then they put the dedicated bike paths up on North Division and I think that was a lower cost option. I don't know the details behind the decisions. 

The bollards they put up separating the bike paths from the auto traffic really aren't weathering the winter very well at all. Seems like a quarter of them have already been obliterated.

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11 hours ago, tSlater said:

The bollards they put up separating the bike paths from the auto traffic really aren't weathering the winter very well at all. Seems like a quarter of them have already been obliterated.

Those are temporary (i.e. literally glued down)

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I read this in the County Road  Association Friday "news letter". It was my understanding the 3 Engler bond issues ("Build Michigan. 1, 2 & 3) and Granholms "Jobs Today" bond issue were close to being paid off.  Not so apparently. Those bonds where predicated on a growing economy and more miles driven.  As we all now that didn't happen, the "lost decade". 

To keep the pavement rating up, they resort to quick fixes of milling and filling to deal with cracks. If Whitmer does additional bonding, the capacity issues ie a third lane on 96 west of Cascade, 3rd lane on 131 north of West River will never get built.

image.png.f32ec79e3d6dd63a8d40259ba27ccbc9.png

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

I noticed yesterday while dodging car accidents that they're starting to clear trees for this little spur/interchange. 

They are actually going to add that segment?   I thought that was a pie in the sky "one day" type of thing, like three quarters of every other MDOT upgrade i've heard discussed.

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34 minutes ago, MJLO said:

They are actually going to add that segment?   I thought that was a pie in the sky "one day" type of thing, like three quarters of every other MDOT upgrade i've heard discussed.

Yes, Raildudes's Dad mentioned earlier that they had worked it into the budget. 

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