Livingston Daily: Protest signs did not work for I-96 neighbor, Jennifer Everbach, 6/5/2015

Traffic noise is a problem for Brighton Township resident Dan Driver.  He lives on top of a hill south of I-96, overlooking the eastbound on-ramp from Spencer Road.  Driver's request for a noise barrier turned into protest signs but his complaints have not helped. 

- From the MDOT news and information page:

Between approximately March and August, M-14 will be closed between Main Street and the Miller Road/Maple Road interchange, with a detour posted. Through-access will not be available along this section of M-14 during the closure. The posted detour will include US-23, I-94 and M-14.

On November 12, 2015, MDOT hosted an Open House at the Northfield Township Hall to ask for opinions about the architecture, design, and landscaping of the US-23 Corridor project.

This was a poster session.  To explain and answer questions about the 34 poster sized renderings were an almost equal number of MDOT Engineers and Landscape Architects from MDOT's landscape architecture consultant, Parsons.

Below are links to images of the posters, captured by a handheld camera, in the order they were placed around the room. 

Washtenaw County residents will once again pay for road improvements through a one-year property tax increase.  The county's board gave final approval to a renewal of the 0.5-mill tax first approved in October 2014

Last update: 11/30/2021

 

Why The U.S. Hates Roundabouts - Youtube - Youtube, Cheddar 

 

The Big Problem With Cloverleaf Interchanges - Youtube - Cheddar Explains 

 

 

How The Interstate Connected And Divided America - The Lightbulb Moment - Youtube - Cheddar

 

Last update: 5/5/2021

This is a grab bag of links to roads related news stories.  It gets updated whenever something interesting hits the news media.  As an example of what's in the list, we've linked to over 100 reports on the 2015 MDOT budget battle, every gruesome moment as reported by the Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Livingston County papers. 

We've found links to coverage of the Federal Highway Bill, WALLY, mass transit efforts, Michigan rail, Regional planning organizations like SEMCOG, the RTA, etc. etc. etc. 

You'll also find links to MDOT's Youtube channel, where highway and bridge engineering and projects are documented, Michigan's Paser road ratings and a couple of guidebooks explaining Paser.  Happy hunting.

 

Stage Routes 1873 Livingston County Directory

1873 Livingston County Directory, p55, Michigan County Histories and Atlases, University of Michigan

 

The History of Roads in Michigan, by Dorothy G. Pohl, Managing Director for the Ionia County Road Commission, and Norman E. Brown, retired MDOT Act 51 Administrator. It was presented to the Association of Southern Michigan Road Commissions on December 2, 1997

The tiny story about 160 years of simultaneous evolution and devolution of Michigan public road policy.  Read for hints of why Michigan roads rank at the Nation's bottom.

Transportation in Michigan History, by Philip P. Mason, Sequicentennial Series, 1987

The Great Sauk trail was first improved in the 1830s. Largely as a result of the activities of Father Gabriel Richard, Michigan Territory's delegate, Conqress authorized the survey of a road from Detroit to Chicago in 1824.

 

At first, surveyors planned to build the road in a straight line between the two cities. When the plan proved impractical, they decided to follow the well-marked Sauk trail, which bypassed swamps, lakes and other natural obstacles to good travel. Thus, the Chicago Road, or US-12, as it was later called, came into being.

 

The St. Joseph trail ran east and west through the second tier of counties from Detroit to St. Joseph. This route became the famous Territorial Road, now basically following the route of I-94. The Grand River trail provided the course for the road that became US-16, later supplanted by I-96 from Detroit to Grand Rapids. Also running from Detroit was the Saginaw trail, later US-10 and M-54, and an Indian path from Detroit to Port Huron, now traversed by I-94. A section of the Great trail, which connected the Chesapeake Bay and the Mississippi River, ran through Michigan from Toledo to the head of Lake Huron. 

 

Gas stations of California.  An essay in a ton of photographs.

 

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