Highway and Road Construction Updates

[torgo]

Does anyone know when Ottawa Ave under 196 is going to open? It's been closed since the Mesozoic era and nothing seems to be happening there.

[GR_Urbanist]

Anyone have a pic of this intersection now?

You are at Wealthy looking westward. The first cross street at the traffic light is Jefferson. I think that building on the corner is coming down for sure. Although I am not sure, I think the highlighted area is to become part of the new street width.

[dtown]

Interesting. Thank you very much.

[beergeek]

You'll love this one...both exits from I-196 at College will be closed from April 2nd until fall

As if traffic around the hospital wasn't bad enough...now everyone will have to get off at Fuller or Ottawa...oh, wait, can't do that either. Good thing it's not usually urgent to get to the hospital. Great planning.

[Lplan]

You'll love this one...both exits from I-196 at College will be closed from April 2nd until fall

As if traffic around the hospital wasn't bad enough...now everyone will have to get off at Fuller or Ottawa...oh, wait, can't do that either. Good thing it's not usually urgent to get to the hospital. Great planning.

Well, i don't know if it's until FALL...

http://mdotwas1.mdot.state.mi.us/public/La...=&Showall=1

Starts 03/31 (Gerald R. Ford Freeway) Eastbound I-196 On-ramp from College Avenue.

Sat 3/31/07, 8 AM to Wed 7/18/07, 9 PM

Ramp Closure

Details: The on-ramp to eastbound I-196 from College Ave. will be CLOSED starting Saturday, March 31st through mid-July for bridge reconstruction work on EB I-196 over the railroad.

Detour: The detour for the EB I-196 on-ramp from College Ave. is: College Ave. south to Michigan St., east on Michigan St. to Fuller Ave., north on Fuller Ave. to EB I-196.

Restrictions: Motorists should expect delays.

Kent County

Expires in 113 days Last updated: 3/22/07 2:11 PM

Starts 04/09 (Gerald R. Ford Freeway) Westbound I-196 Off-Ramp to College Ave.

Mon 4/9/07, 9 AM to Wed 7/18/07, 9 PM

Ramp Closure

Details: The westbound I-196 off-ramp to College Ave. will be CLOSED starting Monday, April 9th after 9:00 a.m. through mid-July for bridge reconstruction work on WB I-196 over the railroad.

Detour: The posted detour for this ramp closure is westbound I-196 to Fuller Ave., exit at Fuller Ave., south on Fuller Ave. to Michigan St., west on Michigan St. to College Ave.

Restrictions: Motorists should expect delays.

Kent County

Expires in 113 days Last updated: 3/22/07 2:13 PM

[GRDadof3]

Eww, that College Ave closing is going to be messy.

Summer has come early to Grandville Ave. Anyone know what they do with all those old bricks? The new Grandville rebuild will have all new brick streets.

[Grandrapidsne]

(sorry for the double post) Im so excited two of the streets in the worse in shape in the city getting work done on them weatlthy and Grandville !!

[highwayguy]

I was going to post some info on closures in the area, but then I thought, why not just give the links to the websites.....

MDOT Lane Closures

MDOT's 2007 Construction Map, "Paving the Way"

Kent County Closures

Kent County Construction Projects

City of Grand Rapids Closures

AAA Construction Report

And some traffic info sites:

Clear Channel Traffic

Grand Rapids Skyview Traffic

Google Traffic

MDOT Traffic Cameras

MSP Road Conditions

Edited April 11, 2007 by highwayguy

[NorthCoast]

This from the burbs but I'll put it up anyway just in case anyone has to come through the Jenison area...

Starting Monday, April 16 thru July resurfacing will be occurring on Old M-21/Chicago Drive from Main Street in Jenison for about 3.4 miles down to Rush Creek near Hudsonville. When work is being done the road will be down to 1 lane at times in each direction.

Resurfacing also begins in June on Baldwin, east of Main Street (the portion barely anyone uses) in Jenison to Cottonwood Drive. This is one of the preliminary steps in constructing the new ramp. The bridge which crosses Rush Creek will also be replaced so that it will be able to hold the capacity which will be necessary once the ramp is completed.

*Note they also seem to be doing a lot of utility work in the entire township, they've been cutting trees all along Fillmore and putting up new power poles. It can cause some delays getting up 'the hill' on the way to GV.

Edited April 13, 2007 by j3shafer

[PRCH]

Summer has come early to Grandville Ave. Anyone know what they do with all those old bricks? The new Grandville rebuild will have all new brick streets.

quote]

When Monroe was 'mallified' in the late 70's, truckloads of bricks were dumped in the north end of Riverside Park as fill. Now the City salvages bricks and saves them for small repair jobs on existing streets. We hope.

[michguy582]

Ok, I would like to know who is in charge of having all the major roads shut down on the NW side? They have Leonard down to one lane, Alpine shut down just north of Richmond and with the 131 construction brings traffic to the side roads. Shouldn't there be a better plan on when to shut down so many major roads in an area? It took me over 20 minutes to go from Alpine to Plainfield on Leonard today, and that was mid afternoon, not rush hour time.

[Raildudes dad]

Ok, I would like to know who is in charge of having all the major roads shut down on the NW side? They have Leonard down to one lane, Alpine shut down just north of Richmond and with the 131 construction brings traffic to the side roads. Shouldn't there be a better plan on when to shut down so many major roads in an area? It took me over 20 minutes to go from Alpine to Plainfield on Leonard today, and that was mid afternoon, not rush hour time.

And the city has Richmond closed west of Alpine. But according to the city commissioner in the Press, he hasn't heard any complaints. Duh - would good would it do???? The city can take credit for this fiasco. They knew the freeway project was coming for 2 years and still closed Alpine all summer to replace a bridge and closed Richmond for how long to install a new sanitary sewer - it's deep. (Both projects could have waited to next summer!!!)

[jbr12]

I live right near Richmond and 131 and I can tell you that area is crazy for driving right now. People are crazy when they are stuck in that traffic on Richmond and I've almost been hit a number of times trying to get across Richmond to Broadway.

[torgo]

This seems to be a problem a lot. Last summer, getting to my office was a real fiasco because the road directly in front of the building was torn up and resurfaced, the road on the other side of the office was closed, and sometimes the 1-way we all used one block to the north was also closed. It was nearly impossible to get to work, and I mean that literally.

[grcitydog]

The southeast side isn't much better, with Fuller south of Wealthy closed and then Wealthy AND Cherry both closed. Makes for a busy Lake Drive.

[highwayguy]

Hopefully the traffic on northbound US-131 will flow a lot better now that the traffic shift is in place. Just remember, as you approach Ann St, you must now be in the left 2 lanes to continue north on US-131. The right lane is only for traffic going to I-96 or Ann St.

[Raildudes dad]

Hopefully the traffic on northbound US-131 will flow a lot better now that the traffic shift is in place. Just remember, as you approach Ann St, you must now be in the left 2 lanes to continue north on US-131. The right lane is only for traffic going to I-96 or Ann St.

Ran relatively smooth last night and running pretty smooth tonight:) The first night at rush hour they still had a lane closed to switch the overhead signs at Ann Street and that mucked things up pretty good.

Eastbound Richmond at Turner is still backing really bad. Tonight they have a cop directing traffic which should help. If only the city would get Richmond west of Alpine open, part of the traffic could take Bristol as an alternate route.

[highwayguy]

Ran relatively smooth last night and running pretty smooth tonight:) The first night at rush hour they still had a lane closed to switch the overhead signs at Ann Street and that mucked things up pretty good.

Eastbound Richmond at Turner is still backing really bad. Tonight they have a cop directing traffic which should help. If only the city would get Richmond west of Alpine open, part of the traffic could take Bristol as an alternate route.

The city's construction notice for this project says that Richmond is supposed to reopen three weeks from now, the Friday before Memorial Day. I haven't been by there to see how things are progressing, but hopefully they will be done by then.

[GRDadof3]

Stay away from Michigan Street on Monday! Traffic will be reduced to one lane for the start of reconstructing the Michigan Street bridge over Division.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ss....xml&coll=6

[Raildudes dad]

It looks like Alpine south of Ann is just about ready to reopen. The big crane is gone, the street is clear and it looked like the contractor was making a final cleaning as I drove home tonight. I'll bet the Ccrystal Flash gas station is cheering tonight

[tamias6]

That will make my Meijer trips a bit easier again.

It looks like Alpine south of Ann is just about ready to reopen. The big crane is gone, the street is clear and it looked like the contractor was making a final cleaning as I drove home tonight. I'll bet the Ccrystal Flash gas station is cheering tonight

[highwayguy]

I heard that Alpine Ave was scheduled to open Wednesday but was postponed due to weather (probably did not want to paint lines with the chance of rain). I believe it should now be open Thursday.

BTW, the right lane of northbound US-131 from north of Leonard St to Ann St, as well as the Ann St exit ramp, are scheduled to close starting late next week. There is also an upcoming project on I-196 that will close ramps and lanes west of downtown. Should make for some interesting commutes...

[Raildudes dad]

I heard that Alpine Ave was scheduled to open Wednesday but was postponed due to weather (probably did not want to paint lines with the chance of rain). I believe it should now be open Thursday.

BTW, the right lane of northbound US-131 from north of Leonard St to Ann St, as well as the Ann St exit ramp, are scheduled to close starting late next week. There is also an upcoming project on I-196 that will close ramps and lanes west of downtown. Should make for some interesting commutes...

It was open this morning

[GRDadof3]

This kinda fell by the wayside, but construction news from the East side: The bridgework on I-196 Westbound near College is NOW OPEN, and it's HUGE. A sign of what it will look like when that stretch goes 3 lanes in each direction.

The Eastbound side looked to be getting close to wrapping up, which hopefully will bring the opening of College Ave's on-ramp to I-196 Eastbound.

I also noticed that they have the Westbound lanes of the Michigan Street bridge over Division almost complete. The bridge does have some "better than average" detailing to it that can be seen from Division below.

[sparky05]

This kinda fell by the wayside, but construction news from the East side: The bridgework on I-196 Westbound near College is NOW OPEN, and it's HUGE. A sign of what it will look like when that stretch goes 3 lanes in each direction.

It's a nice stretch of road now, that's for sure. How long will the new 3 lane section be?