Dawn Griessel says every day she’s afraid to travel M-59 near Schoenherr and M-53.
“On M-59, heading east, it feels like a war-zone,” said Griessel. “You are trying to avoid the potholes and you got other cars trying to avoid potholes in their lane and it makes me very afraid to drive.”
The pothole plagued road has been more than just dangerous for Dawn, it really banged up her last car.
She says she spent a whopping $2000 to fix it.
“Strut damage, and controller arm damage,” said Griessel. “I hit a pothole so hard it just shook the whole car and I wrote a letter back then to the same people.”
The Macomb Township resident says she wrote letters to MDOT about her concerns but was not happy with the response.
“The very first part of it is you already know because you have seen it on the news, you know the story. The state is strapped. There is no money. That’s great, but you are not on the roads with us. Somebody could get really hurt out here,” said Griessel.
Griessel now has a new SUV and she is worried because MDOT will not be completely fixing the road until 2017.
MDOT told 7 Action News funding has always been an issue but they cannot do anything with the road until the weather warms up because cold patching will not work.
When the temperatures rise, they will be sealing lanes in off-peak hours in that area to hold the road over until next year’s overhaul.
Griessel is hoping that is enough.
“I want to be the voice of somebody who is out there driving and trying not to get hurt,” said Griessel.
According to MDOT, when the road is reconstructed next year, there will be a total reconstruction.
Crews will be shutting down lanes and there will be a lot of money put into the project.
