Construction pausing on some roads over Memorial Day ‘to ease travel’

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Over half of road construction projects across Michigan will lift their lane restrictions over the holiday weekend to help traffic flow smoothly, the governor announced Wednesday.

Orange barrels will be removed and lane restrictions lifted on many roads beginning at 3 p.m. Friday. Construction will resume at 6 a.m. on Tuesday. Of the 154 projects statewide, 85 will have lane restrictions removed.

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“Every holiday weekend, we try to lift restrictions wherever we possibly can by 3 p.m. Friday just to ease travel for everyone that’s going to be coming and going to and from Grand Rapids,” said John Richard, Michigan Department of Transportation communications representative for the Grand Region.

Richard explained that Thursday will be “a hectic day” as crews prepare for the holiday weekend.

“They have to close those ramps to the main detour routes so they can pick up traffic control devices, all the equipment, get everything buttoned up and ready for the holiday weekend,” he said.

According to Richard, the maintenance project on US-131 in the Grand Rapids area is running “slightly ahead of schedule.” Starting March 31, northbound US-131 was closed for about a month at 28th Street so crews could work. Once that work wrapped up around the end of April, southbound US-131 closed at Burton Street so crews could work on that section.

Southbound US-131 is set to be back open by Friday afternoon, Richard said.

“Crews have been working overtime. There’s been well over 100 contractors and subcontractors on US-131 just to get this done,” he said of the project, which involved replacing the freeway’s decades-old joints.

Thursday afternoon, MDOT said southbound US-131 was open, as were the ramps from eastbound and westbound I-196 to southbound US-131. However, the southbound US-131 ramps to both directions of I-196 and the Lane Avenue on ramp to eastbound I-196 were closed Thursday, and lane closures remained in effect on southbound US-131 from Ann Street to Hall Street.

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Some work zones will remain active or keep their road closures for the holiday weekend, including northbound US-131 in Grand Rapids and Kent County, which will have the ramp to I-96 and M-37 closed; southbound US-131 in Kent County, which will have lane closures and a traffic shift from 68th Street to 108th Street; eastbound I-196 Business Loop, which will be closed from Holland to Zeeland; eastbound M-6 near Cascade Township, which will have the ramp to eastbound I-96 closed; and US-31 Business Route in Norton Shores, which will have one lane open from Shettler Road to Hoyt Street.

For a full list of Michigan roads that will still have construction changes, visit the MDOT website. Detour routes will be posted if necessary, the state said. Keep up to date with the latest closures at the Mi Drive website.

Over 1.3 million Michigan residents are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home over Memorial Day weekend, according to the American Automobile Association.

Richard says people tend to head north from Grand Rapids for Memorial Day weekend, causing northbound congestion at the beginning of the weekend and then southbound congestion as the holiday wraps up.

“Monday will be the day to watch out for congestion on southbound 131 and everywhere else as people come back to Grand Rapids,” he said.

The Gerard R. Ford International Airport is also expecting a busy weekend, Airport Authority CEO Tory Richardson said. But he added that it won’t be as busy as spring break, which is its busiest travel period.

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“We expect Memorial weekend to be busy,” he said. “That spring break travel period for us is really our peak, our stressful time, so we see more passengers through the facility then. But it’ll be a busy weekend, just like all the other holidays are for us.”

He said the airport is on pace to see another record number of passengers this year, after it saw close to 3.8 million passengers over the course of 2023.

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