MDOT year in review with Director Paul C. Ajegba

Talking Michigan Transportation

On this week's Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Michigan Department of Transportation Director Paul C. Ajegba talks about some of the big projects completed in 2020 as highlighted in this year-end video.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer celebrated a significant milestone in her Rebuilding Michigan plan when she joined Director Ajegba to tour the first project financed with the bonds. That project rebuilt the aging I-496 freeway between I-96 and Lansing Road in Ingham and Eaton counties. Major work will begin on several other projects to be financed by the governor’s bonding plan in spring 2021. Gov. Whitmer talked about the plan on the podcast in January following the State Transportation Commission's authorization.

Also, in early November, Gov. Whitmer joined the director to celebrate the reopening of the busy interchange of I-96, I-196 and East Beltline Avenue east of Grand Rapids. The Flip, as dubbed by the project team, will ease congestion in and out of the city and make for safer transitions between the freeways. As Robb Westaby at Fox17 observed, the new ramp and bridge eliminates the need for drivers to cross three lanes of traffic to get to the East Beltline Avenue exit.

Other notable projects in 2020 included rebuilding the 100th Street bridge over US-131 in Kent County, the I-75 modernization project in Oakland County, rebuilding US-131 in St. Joseph County, and rebuilding M-28 in Alger County.

The director also explains how Rebuilding Michigan and more aggressive road building is stoking competition in the construction industry, with preliminary evidence of stabilizing bid prices.

Other highlights:

• MDOT inked a contract in August with Cavnue for a first-of-its-kind connected corridor between Detroit and Ann Arbor. As Fortune Magazine wrote, “The so-called road of the future, which was announced on Thursday by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, amounts to an ambitious bid to reconceive both transportation and public transit.”
• On the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, MDOT real estate specialists marked a major milestone by acquiring the final parcels of land needed for construction of the bridge, ramps and plazas. This year-in-review video covers the highlights.