Michigan Department of Transportation urging carefulness and patience from drivers

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – Whether it’s your daily commute to work, or a trip across the state, it’s hard to miss the construction on all those Michigan roads.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) says the “Rebuilding Michigan” project is three-fourths of the way done. MDOT does realize that all this construction has been inconveniencing Michiganders.

“The frustration has been overwhelming,” said Marie Blackwell, general manager of Woody’s Oasis, located on Trowbridge Road. She is one of many asking, when will the construction end?

Prior to the “Rebuilding Michigan’ project, MDOT was hit with questions about when the road will be fixed. But now, citizens are asking other questions.

“Lately a lot of the questions I’ve been receiving have been about the amount of work that we’re doing right now,” said Brad Wieferich, director of MDOT.

The state wanted to make sure that projects are completed for the long run, not just placing a band-aid on them, which increases the project lengths.

“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can for our costumers and taxpayers to minimize the amount of disruption that we’re having,” said Wieferich.

In a video to citizens, MDOT said to drive slower and pay extra attention while driving through construction zones.

“The safety of yourselves, other motorists, and the hard-working people in those work zones really depend on that.”

Businesses have seen a loss in customers due to them not being able to locate them.

“I get a lot of phone calls going ‘How do I get to you? Here I am, this is where I’m at,’’’ said Blackwell.

MDOT is urging citizens to be patient with the amount of construction hitting Michigan roads.

“At the end of the day, it’s going to create better roads and bridges for us to drive on,” said Wieferich.

The next project hitting Ingham County will be the closing of forest road under U.S. 127, which will help to rebuild that overpass.

To view the video MDOT released, click here.

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