This area continues to be a hazard. Road conditions have deteriorated and still MDOT takes a coffee break. The amount of traffic has almost doubled in the last year making the journey through that road area very treacherous at certain times of the day and night. MDOT not only are on a coffee break with this one, they are out to lunch!

MDOT finally is doing something on this stretch of road! The question is, is it the proper solution for the amount of increasing traffic in the area or just a bandage fix?

For the last month I have been traveling the revamped intersection at Gratiot & New Haven Rd. The fix MDOT has done is barley adequate. If this was a country road it would have been great fix but MDOT continues to put their heads in the sand when it comes to infrastructure. First problem is there are no left turn lights at the intersection! Have you tried to make a left turn at rush hour, I tried and have had to wait up to 4 lights. That intersection has a lot of large trucks making left turns. Second problem is light timing with the previous and after intersection. I guess since MDOT does not know how to make an adequate fix they do not know how to time lights for smooth traffic flow. Third problem is that Gratiot from 26 Mile to 32 Mile should actually be 5 lane road because of all the trash trucks (hundreds per week from Canada) that use that stretch of road and make traffic unsafe because of their slow speed on 55 mph road. The trucks continually coming in and out of 29 Mile Rd trash dump slowing traffic, they have an odor and more often then not have streams of small bits of trash flying from them that did not empty.

Even though small improvement have been made in road conditions MDOT still is on a coffee break when it come to traffic conditions in this area especially during rush hour. The refuse to put a left hand turn light at New Haven Rd. and Gratiot which makes it almost impossible to turn left during rush hour. The light timing between 26 Mile Rd and New Haven Rd. is abysmal at best. Actually the whole stretch of Gratiot / M19 from 26 Mile Rd. to 32 Mile Rd. is a joke with all the truck traffic for the garbage dump and the current road conditions. Gratiot / M19 should be a 5 lane road just like south of 26 Mile Rd. in this stretch.

Well the bad news is this stretch of road will not get any of the 3.5 billion the governors going to borrow. The good news it was worked on in the last few years and the road has no potholes as of now. The bad news is the fixes done as inadequate for rush hour traffic... failure of left hand turn system lights can leave you in the left hand turn lane for up to 5 lights at rush hour.

MDOT has put in a left turn light at Gratiot and New Haven Rd which is a great help but the road remains inadequate for rush hour traffic. Gratiot Ave should be a 5 lane road all the way to 32 Mile Rd to handle the growing infrastructure and hundreds of garbage trucks from the surrounding metro area and Canada.

As traffic continues to pile up on Gratiot between 26 Mile and New Haven Rd between noon and 6:30pm MDOT continues to act like their bandaid fix a few years ago solved the inner structure problem. With amount of people and cars going that way the inner structure should be 5 lanes all the way to 32 Mile Rd.

This is been a summer of moronic road repairs that has effected this small stretch of roadway. If the idiots at MDOT would have made Gratiot 4 lanes until you pass the trailer park north of 27 mile rd a few years back everybody’s commute would have been a lot least stressful. Instead they sit in their office eating donuts and playing video games instead of offering a better inter structure for traffic to flow, then schedule massive road projects that overlaps in areas causing traffic congestion to the max. MDOT another area of government that needs to be dismantled and rebuilt to meet the needs of the people.