MDOT�s largest project, the Ambassador Bridge Gateway job, involves 2.7 miles of road reconstruction and the replacement and rehabilitation of 24 bridges.

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It is never easy to complete work on a major thoroughfare that plays a vital role in the economy of a state – let alone the country – without greatly affecting traffic flow. But the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is doing all it can to ensure communities that rely on traffic from Interstate 75 for commerce do not take a hit while a portion of the highway is shut down during the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project in Detroit.

MDOT has closed a 1.5-mile stretch of I-75 since February 2008 during the fourth phase of the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project, which is the largest project in MDOT history, according to Victor Judnic, senior delivery engineer for MDOT. This portion of the project, which costs $170 million, involves 2.7 miles of road reconstruction and the replacement and rehabilitation of 24 bridges. Toebe Construction Co., based in Wixom, Mich., is the Contractor of this phase.
 
Major Shutdown
It is not often that MDOT will completely shut down a portion of a freeway, especially one as important as I-75 is to the state. Judnic says this portion of I-75, which averaged 110,000 cars daily before construction began, is imperative to business conducted in Detroit’s Mexican Town neighborhood, one of the areas of Detroit that is experiencing growth.

“The [project] has been a challenge with Mexican Town at the foot of the bridge,” Judnic says. “With [the project] cutting through Mexican Town, it affects the economy because business is down as we divert traffic. We have an extensive public outreach campaign with all the local communities, which is consuming a lot more time than we anticipated.”

To keep the public and communities abreast of progress, MDOT has created a Web site that gives alternate routes to the affected communities, as well as construction updates. MDOT is also running radio spots and public service announcements to let citizens know that southwest Detroit and Downtown Detroit are open for business. Access is being maintained at all times during the life of the project.   

“We don’t want to give the impression that everything is shut down due to the freeway being closed,” Judnic says. “We’re focused on mobility in getting traffic to major venues such as Mexican Town, southwest Detroit, Greek Town, the convention center, stadiums, casinos and Detroit’s central business district.

“We have met with over 100 different stakeholders and conducted four public informational meetings in the last 10 months to gather information and provide the best detour routes to meet their needs,” Judnic says. The Ambassador Bridge carries 23 percent of trade between the United States and Canada and is the No. 1 U.S.-to -Canada commercial crossing.

Through this project, Judnic says MDOT has learned that there must be an extensive communication plan in place to notify the public of expressway closures as early as possible. “Once you identify traffic generating venues, we determine all viable detour routes well in advance of notifying the stakeholders,” he says. “Also, you need adequate signage and MDOT deployed a real-time messaging system providing travel times along the major detour routes, as an enhanced version of the signage.”
 
Inspiring Incentives
As of April, 32 percent of the work was complete on Phase 4 and Judnic says the project was in “good shape” after a difficult 10 months of utility work. When work began in July 2007, Toebe Construction discovered utilities such as: water, sewer and gas lines that are more than 100 years old, which required the MDOT to reroute and work around the antiquated and sensitive infrastructure. The extra work delayed the project for several weeks, but MDOT reacted by accelerating portions of the work to keep the project on schedule.        

“With most of the utilities in check, we’re focusing on improved production,” Judnic says. “This is the big year to construct most of the project.”

To help speed up construction, MDOT included $8 million in incentives and disincentives into the contract for Phase 4. MDOT will generally reward Toebe Construction $50,000 a day if it can reopen I-75 before Dec. 1, 2009. If Toebe Construction does not complete work on time, MDOT will deduct $50,000 for each day after the contract completion date from money due to Toebe.  
 
Communication is Key
For a project with so much at stake for a state with a fragile economy, communication is essential for everyone involved with Phase 4 of the Ambassador Bridge Gateway project. To keep track of the massive amount of documentation needed on a project of this magnitude, MDOT uses the Web-based processing center called Bricsnet. 

“This gives us one central processing center for all interaction between the owner, consultants and contractors,” Judnic adds. “It has provided a forum for quick response to issues that arise each day.”