Major improvements and upgrades to the 50-year-old expressway skirting Grand Rapids’ downtown are on the drawing board for next year. Will rerouting traffic along the construction route on the Medical Mile contribute to the busy corridor’s growing pains?
According to excerpts from the story:
GRAND RAPIDS -- Int. 196 will be closed between the Grand River and Fuller Avenue NE for five or six months in 2010. The Michigan Department of Transportation plans to rebuild the roadway and replace several bridges on the 45-year-old freeway.
The project will have an impact on Michigan Street NE, which will have to carry much of the freeway traffic headed in and out of downtown, said Art Green, development manager for MDOT's Grand Rapids office. Most of the freeway traffic going through downtown will be re-routed to Int. 96 and U.S. 131, or to M-6, Green said.
"Michigan Street is not going to be a detour for the freeway," said Green, who compares the project to MDOT's replacement of downtown's U.S. 131 S-curve in 2000.
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