DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Construction at Telegraph and Michigan Avenue in Dearborn will not wrap up until the end of October — the second time the project's end date has been pushed back.
The Michigan Department of Transportation originally expected the work to be complete by late summer. Orange barrels went up in April, and since then, drivers in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights have faced significant delays.
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Dearborn resident Valorie Winder lives one block east of Telegraph, which is currently down to one lane near Michigan Avenue. She said drivers trying to escape the stop-and-go traffic have been cutting through her street — a shortcut that does not work.
"They think they are going to avoid the backup by going one block, and I'm like ok that is not going to help guys," Winder said.
Her street dead-ends before drivers can get around the construction zone.
Winder said she had been hoping the detour attempts would end when the project wrapped up, but the new timeline has pushed that relief further away.
"We thought there was an end coming, and we can see it is going to be pushed again," Winder said.
Dave Harris, a senior construction contracts engineer with MDOT who oversees the project, said crews discovered unexpected damage when they began work on the Michigan Avenue bridge.
"This bridge got hit actually, by a high load semi, something, we don't know. So that added a bunch of work that we were not originally anticipating," Harris said.
Harris said the timing and circumstances of the strike remain unknown.
"At some point it was hit and we don't know, it was probably a hit and run, somebody clipped it and you know took off, kept going," Harris said.
The suspected vehicle strike was not the only complication. When crews began working on the bridge's concrete support elements, they found the supports were in worse shape than expected.
"Once we started doing our initial work to the concrete support elements to the bridge, we kind of chipped away those first few layers, the supports were actually in pretty rough shape, so we had to do more extensive repairs to the supports to make sure that bridge remains safe for traffic to travel," Harris said.
Crews are currently repairing steel beams that were likely struck and finishing concrete patching on both Telegraph and Michigan Avenue. Harris said that concrete work is weather dependent and cannot be done in the rain, which may explain why the construction zone sometimes appears empty.
"Folks might not always see work going on out there so, because it is kind of above and below with the bridge and Telegraph down below you might not always see crews out there depending on which route you are taking, just know we are working out there," Harris said.
Winder said she has noticed the quiet stretches firsthand.
"I'll go north on Telegraph, go under the underpass at Michigan, and there's nobody around, and you can do that day after day, so I am wondering where are they?" Winder said.
Despite the frustration, Winder said she understands the bigger picture.
"I'm happy about construction, I know there's an end game and it is going to be better for everybody, but in the meantime it has been a problem for us," Winder said.
Harris said once the project is complete, the repairs should hold up for at least another 15 to 20 years.
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