Road construction: Closings on Michigan Avenue in Lansing begin this week
Susan Vela
- A portion of Michigan Avenue in Lansing will be closed between Leslie and Lathrop streets from Friday until early July for a rehabilitation project.
- Detours will be in place, diverting eastbound traffic to Saginaw Street and westbound traffic to Grand River and Oakland avenues.
- The project, which began last year, aims to make the corridor more pedestrian and bicycle friendly by reducing lanes, adding bike lanes, and upgrading infrastructure.
LANSING — Another phase of the $14 million Michigan Avenue rehabilitation project will kick off Friday with a significant road closing east of the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow Lansing hospital.
Michigan Avenue will be closed between Leslie and Lathrop streets, and the closure is likely to last until early July, city officials said in a press release.
Detours will be available. Eastbound traffic will be encouraged to travel Saginaw Street, and westbound traffic will be steered toward Grand River and Oakland avenues.
Road closings for Phase 4 of the Michigan Avenue project were supposed to start Monday, March 24, but "frost laws have not been lifted on all the roads the contractor will be using to bring in materials," Andy Kilpatrick, the city's public service director, said in an email.
Another phase of the project is scheduled to begin in July and last into September for the stretch of the avenue that goes roughly from Lathrop to the UM-Health Sparrow campus and then the last planned phase will happen for the stretch in front of the hospital campus in September and October.
"The project will conclude in October at the end of phase 6," Kilpatrick said. "It is possible that tree planting, which will happen independent of the road work could extend past the final road paving - if that happens earlier - but the current schedule has everything finishing in mid-October."
The project to make the Michigan Avenue corridor more pedestrian and bicycle friendly began last year and is converting the five-lane road to a four-lane passage, with two westbound lanes, a center turn lane and an eastbound lane.
Bike lanes will be added, sidewalks will be replaced and sewer and water mains will be upgraded, officials said.
Bicyclists urged the city to consider safety in reconfiguring the road. The road got poor reviews from bicyclists because of debris, vegetation, uneven pavement and dangers that included the potential for car doors to swing open into the path of passing bikes.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.