OAK PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Metro Detroit drivers are getting closer to the end of the massive Restore the Reuther project, but they'll have to deal with one more major headache this weekend.
I-696 will close between I-75 in Hazel Park and M-10, the Lodge Freeway, in Southfield beginning at 9 p.m. Friday as crews prepare for a major traffic shift.
The closure will allow crews to move westbound traffic from the eastbound side of the freeway back onto the newly reconstructed westbound lanes.
For more than a year and a half, the eastbound lanes of I-696 between I-75 and the Lodge have been closed as part of the second phase of the four-year Restore the Reuther project. The roughly 8-mile closure impacts around 100,000 drivers each day.
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For drivers who have spent years navigating construction and detours, the upcoming traffic shift is welcome news.
"It's been many, many years here of pain just getting east to west, west to east," Birmingham resident Jay Shell said.
Shell works in Novi and said the construction hasn't just cost drivers time.
"It's more gas that you're using while you're waiting in traffic and trying to get around it," Shell said. "And so, it's just raising cost to get east and west in our area."
Southfield resident Djiby Diallo said the closure can significantly increase his travel time.
"30 minutes more, sometimes an hour more — it's a lot," Diallo said.
What drivers need to know about the weekend closure
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, westbound I-696 from I-75 to M-10, including all entrance and exit ramps, will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9 until 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 12.
MDOT's posted detour directs westbound I-696 drivers to southbound I-75, then westbound M-8, the Davison Freeway and northbound M-10.
Once the traffic shift is complete, westbound I-696 is expected to reopen on its newly reconstructed westbound side at 5 a.m. Monday.
MDOT says the following ramps will reopen with westbound I-696:
- I-75
- Campbell Hilton/Bermuda Mohawk
- M-1/Woodward Avenue entrance ramp
- Coolidge Highway
- Greenfield Road
- Southfield Road
- Evergreen Road
- Lahser Road
- US-24/Telegraph Road
There is one exception. The westbound I-696 exit ramp to Woodward Avenue will remain closed until Saturday, Oct. 17, as crews complete resurfacing work on the westbound 10 Mile Road service drive.
"Having most of those ramps open and traffic back on westbound is gonna be great," MDOT spokesperson Diane Cross said. "We still have to keep eastbound closed though. Because we have to fix all the places where we were letting you cross over to Woodward, to Southfield, to M-10."
Eastbound I-696 will remain closed
While Monday's reopening will mark a major milestone, the Restore the Reuther project isn't finished yet.
Eastbound I-696 will remain closed and detoured while crews complete ramp and median work, including work in areas that had been used to move westbound traffic onto the opposite side of the freeway.
MDOT says eastbound I-696 is expected to reopen before the end of 2026.
Shell said he's happy to see the project moving closer to completion, but he believes coordination between state and local road projects could be better.
"It doesn't seem to be a lot of coordination of the state work and the local work," Shell said. "So, sometimes, they're in conflict."
Even after both directions reopen, construction along the I-696 corridor isn't completely over. MDOT says work will continue in 2027 on eastbound and westbound I-696 between I-75 and Dequindre Road, though the freeway is expected to remain open during that construction.
For drivers, this weekend will mean another round of detours and delays. But when westbound I-696 reopens Monday morning, metro Detroit motorists will be one significant step closer to putting years of Restore the Reuther construction behind them.
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