Stretch of SB I-275 closes Monday

An $80 million project to rehabilitate a seven-mile stretch of Interstate 275 is sure to inconvenience tens of thousands of motorists with gridlock that begins Monday.

The heavily traveled I-275 from the Interstate 96/696/M-5 interchange in Livonia and Farmington Hills will undergo repairs that include fixes to 16 bridges and interchange ramps.

The second-largest Metro Detroit road project began in April, when preliminary work took place on weekends and week nights, but the closing that began at midnight Monday is the first shutdown, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

MDOT says sections of I-275 will be closed during the spring and summer — southbound 275 until July and northbound from July to September.

The stretch of freeway, a major path to Metro Airport, is traveled by about 180,000 vehicles daily.

Familiar orange barrels for the largest road project this construction season will greet motorists on Interstate 75, where a two-year, $127 million rebuild of a three-mile stretch from Troy, Bloomfield Township and Auburn Hills is expected begin in June.

The project is expected to be completed November 2017 and will require lane closures in both directions while the freeway is reconstructed and widened between Coolidge Highway and South Boulevard in Oakland County. The average daily traffic count on I-75 in that section ranges from 103,000 to 174,000 vehicles.

About $422 million will be spent on a dozen road projects in southeast Michigan this year, according to MDOT, up from $329 million in 2015 and $372 million in 2014.