Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches E. Great Lakes MDOT sure does suck

Anyone else feel that MDOT is biting off more than they can chew right now? Working in Dearborn has become laughable at this point as they close a new road down for construction every week. That's nice that they're trying to fix everything, but come on. There's no possible way they can work on this many roads at one time. Let's see...96 will be down to 2 lanes until NOVEMBER (WTF?!), Southfield closed from June to August, Telegraph under construction, 94 under construction, Outer Drive under construction, etc. etc. etc. This is more frustrating than having to deal with the state of the roads during the winter. At least I had all of the major potholes along the trip memorized...

You also forgot to add the 75 South from 14 to 11 mile will now be on the northbound side.. only god knows what they are doin there.. why not just blow everything up and start over.. prolly be quicker!!

While I agree in general, I must say that my particular commute from Dearborn to Sterling Heights to Dearborn has not been affected too much this summer.

What's this? NEW CONSTRUCTION! F'ing northbound 75 at crooks. 2 lanes. Luckily, i left for work about an hour late, so there was no real traffic. Fruck MDOT.

Michigan sucks. Too much snow in the winter. Too much construction in the summer.

OK, let me ask you guys this. Is it (the construction during the summer) this bad every year? I just moved to the area about 10 months ago so I haven't gone through the entire cycle.

OK, I am not sticking up for MDOT or anything, but I do have to say that I work for a contracting Company and we have the Center Lane of Garfield Road Closed in certain spots and we are not even working on the road, we build underground tunnels, so it is not necessarily that they are doing road work, but other work as well, like our tunnels that we build help out with homes and businesses... so would you rather have crappy roads or have your home plumbing all messed up? I just thought I would shed a little light on the subject...

On another note... yes the summers are like this with a ton of Construction...

This year seems to have the most open projects at once, but in general, winter commutes take a lot less time, when it doesn't snow. It seems that MDOT not only blocks the primary route for people, but every possible alternate, secondary and subdivision streets as well.

lol

hellsangel- I completely understand where you're coming from, and my ramblings unfortunately express a sweeping generalization of what I see everyday. There are, however, still people or equipment present at those areas (like the one you're working at) that let you know that it's necessary to shut down that area at that time. I think over 50% of the construction areas I pass everyday have no one there working on them. Sometimes this is reasonable to do if they do not want to keep moving cones around every day, but stuff like closing down 4 lanes of traffic on a 20 mile 8-lane stretch of major expressway for 7 months is unbelieveable.

The thing that really bothers me is that they are doing simultaneous construction on so many major roads. I've been driving to Romeo everyday from Ann Arbor. Here's what I see for construction:

AA - Romeo: On ramp from M14 to 275 down to 2 lanes then gets even narrower to one lane after the ramp before merging to 275. 75 at square lake down to 3 lanes. If I take 696 to 75 instead, I get the 11 to 14 mile construction on it. Time without traffic: 1hr 30min. Time with traffic: 2:30min

Now with Southfield construction, I think that screws up my ride to and from Dearborn as well. All the major roads except 94 west from Detroit have some form of construction on it and even worse, they have construction on the interchanges so that they can jam up two at once! Which brainchild decides to do construction near or on multiple interchanges at the same time??

Oh, and here's a bit of Michigan math for ya. 3+3+4 = 3. Which genius thought of the M14-275-96 merge? 275 merges M14 AND I96 just before it eliminates the left lane. Merge 3 lanes + 3 lanes into a 4 lane shrinking into 3? 3+3+4 = 3???

I sense organized crime or upper union management behind all this insanity...

OK. I feel better now that I vented...