OAKLAND COUNTY (WXYZ) — You may get re-routed during rush hour this morning, as drivers who rely on I-696 have a much longer commute thanks to a massive construction project. We're down to one lane from I-75 to Cooliudge Highway. 8 Mile is expected to be quite congested, especially for the morning and evening commutes.
On average, MDOT is advising folks to add 20 minutes to their commute times, so plan accordingly.
WATCH OUR COVERAGE FROM LAST NIGHT & THIS MORNING
We spoke to drivers about this construction, including one who found out about it the hard way this weekend.
"It was rough, we had to get to our parents house over the weekend here and it was a rough way to find out that it was closed. We took the wrong way and found out last second," said Royal Oak resident Jon Granroth.
And that was on a weekend! This is the first day drivers are dealing with this for the morning rush hour.
The detour for the project is southbound on I-75 to westbound on M-8, then northbound on M-10, and finally back to westbound on I-696.
Now again, this is all part of the larger project, Retore the Reuther... $275 million of which around $40 million is being used to revamp the Church Street bridge, which is being torn down over the next few days. Its the west of the bridge first, hence the closure.
MDOT's spokesperson, Diane Cross, says once that portion of 696 westbound opens up, the worst is over when it comes to the closure of that part of the highway.
"The rest of 696 westbound will remain open, we will have a week or two when we're bringing beams in when we have to close traffic but for drivers, close to 100,000 drivers, we will not have to close the freeway for this long of time period again," Cross said.
Westbound traffic on 696 is scheduled to open May 19th 5am.. Eastbound traffic will continue to remain closed till the end of 2026, and that's when major construction work for the Restore the Reuther project is expected to be completed.
