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Extreme makeover will improve I-96

Date Posted: August 5 2005

Michigan is spending more than $1 billion to improve roads and bridges in 2005, and among the largest projects is the rehabilitation of I-96 in Detroit.

The Michigan Department of Transportation, its contractors and the building trades are repairing or replacing 12 miles of freeway roughly between Telegraph and I-94 near downtown Detroit - and in the process an astounding 62 overpasses are being rehabilitated.

"We're on pace to finish by Thanksgiving," said MDOT Delivery Engineer Victor Judnic, who is charge of "delivering" the work on an eight-mile section of I-96. "The biggest challenge we've had is doing the work to meet that deadline. There's just a tremendous volume of work out here."

I-96 was built in the early 1960s, and much of the pavement that's being replaced is original. Until work began in March 2004, driving over the extensive potholes and patches made it painfully obvious to motorists that the pavement needed replacement.

Judnic said the major structural difference between the 1960s freeway and the modern I-96 will never be seen by motorists: the underlayment and drainage under the new freeway will be "greatly improved," he said. A deeper aggregate base, plus larger stones, and the use of plastic tubes under the surface "should improve drainage and extend the life of the surface," Judnic added.

MDOT is also experimenting with the use of lime mixed with subgrade soil on a four-mile stretch of highway. Adding the lime is expected to allow the soil to compact better and become more stable.

Still, over a four-mile stretch, the underlying road-bed was still in sufficiently good shape and MDOT decided to go with an asphalt overlayment, instead of a complete tear-out of the road.

The major unknown in a project like this is akin to tearing down a wall in a home improvement project. "Especially on the bridges, everything is just a guessing game until you open things up," Judnic said. "We've found deterioration in the bridges, but that's not surprising, they're old."

MDOT estimates that the rehabilitated bridges will be good for another 40 years and the road surface, 20 years.


RODBUSTERS from Local 25 place re-rod in an overpass of I-96 in Detroit.
HARDHATS construct an I-96 on-ramp. Photos: Jim Lemay/MDOT