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Months-long roadwork at M-39 and US-12 in Dearborn starts today

Updated  March 2, 2020 5:43pm EST
Traffic
FOX 2 Detroit

DEARBORN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A major construction project will be affecting drivers in Dearborn this month. 

The project starts Monday, March 2 in the areas of M-39 and US-12 and will go through the fall. The project is to repair six bridges at the intersection. You can see the full project details below. 

Details on construction project at Southfield Fwy and Michigan Ave

Here's the details on the monthslong bridgework project in Dearborn that begins on Monday, March 1, 2020.

"This is one of the biggest things we have done in a long time. We are affecting businesses, residents, deliveries, all that type of thing," said Diane Cross with MDOT. 

The project includes multiple lane closures on M-39 and US-12 and two full weekend closures of M-39. The northbound and southbound M-39 service drives will have complete closures, including the southbound service drive closed for approximately two weeks and the northbound service drive for approximately three weeks. 

"It's already bottlenecked all day long with having only two lanes available and an exit ramp to the Michigan Avenue route - that at some point will be blocked. But once we take the Southfield Freeway down to one lane we are going to see backups for miles," Cross said. 

And that's only the kick-off to the construction.

Monday morning starting at 9 a.m. the southbound Southfield Service Drive will be closed from Michigan Avenue to Rotunda for roughly two weeks, then will re-open to one lane. The northbound service drive will also be down to a single before temporarily shutting down in April.

"We are affecting both east and west parts of Dearborn, plus the freeway; this is gonna be huge. And once we start we are going to go probably through November. So it is going to be very difficult for drivers to get around so we need to plan ahead," Cross said. 

This is all part of a $12.7 million dollar project that will repair six bridges in the Southfield Freeway and Michigan Avenue interchange area of Dearborn. Some 150,000 drivers rely on this stretch of road daily.

"Bridges are not something that you wait on. If we've got the money and the work needs to be done we're going to inconvenience drivers, but ultimately it's for the safety of drivers," Cross said. 

You can get live traffic reports every weekday morning beginning at 5 a.m. You can watch live on TV or stream with your FOX 2 app. You can also check the traffic at fox2detroit.com/traffic. 

PROJECT DETAILS:
 
M-39 (Southfield Freeway):

Beginning Monday, March 1 at 9 a.m., northbound and southbound M-39 will be reduced to one lane under US-12 through the fall. 

Beginning Tuesday, March 2 at 9 a.m., the southbound M-39 service drive will be closed from US-12 to Rotunda Drive for approximately two weeks, then will reopen to one lane through the fall.

Beginning Tuesday at 9 a.m., the northbound M-39 service drive will be reduced to one lane. At some point in April, the northbound M-39 service drive will close for approximately three weeks and will reopen to one lane. During that closure, the northbound M-39 ramp to US-12 will also be closed. The closure date will be announced at a later date.
 
US-12 (Michigan Avenue):

Beginning Monday, March 1 at 9 a.m., eastbound and westbound US-12 over M-39 will have one lane closed in each direction to build crossovers in the median. 

In mid-March, bridgework will begin by reducing eastbound and westbound traffic from four lanes to two lanes and shifting this traffic onto one of the bridges while the other is repaired.