Orange barrels are back on Michigan highways as construction season gets underway, causing traffic headaches for Lansing area drivers.
Work on southbound US-127 between I-96 and I-496 began on March 18 and is expected to wrap up by mid-November. It’s part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Rebuilding Michigan program aimed at improving the state’s highways.
This phase of the project, estimated to cost $205 million, started last year with construction on northbound US-127. Scheduled improvements include rebuilding bridges, installing new freeway lighting and constructing a sound wall barrier.
Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson Aaron Jenkins urged drivers to stay alert to road crews in work zones.
“These are people working on these projects — they go to work just like you do, and they want to make it home safe,” Jenkins said.
“Drivers need to make sure they’re being very careful. Don’t drive distracted. When you look down at your phone, and you’re going 55 miles an hour, if you look down for five seconds, you just drove the length of a football field blind.”
Several southbound ramps will be closed until mid-June including:
- Westbound I-96 to southbound US-127
- Southbound US-127 to westbound I-96
- Southbound US-127 to eastbound I-96
- Dunckel Road to southbound US-127
- Eastbound I-96 to northbound US-127
Additional exits at Trowbridge Road will remain closed until the project’s expected completion in November:
- Northbound US-127 to westbound I-496
- Eastbound I-496 to Trowbridge Road
- Southbound US-127 to Trowbridge Road
- Trowbridge Road to southbound US-127
- Kalamazoo Street/Howard Street to southbound US-127
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.