Coolidge Highway bridge Oakland County now closed to drivers for repairs
Drivers, heads up: if your commute takes you near Coolidge Highway and 10 Mile Road in Oakland County, a busy bridge is closed in that area starting Monday.
Drivers say they are already anticipating a longer commute.
"I just go around it. I use the side streets," said Oak Park resident Erica Johnson.
"I'm not excited about it. I won't be driving that way. I definitely think it's going to bother a lot of people," added Huntington Woods resident Dan Rosenberg.
Closed for construction, the Coolidge Highway Bridge is now blocked off to traffic. It's another road project folks behind the wheel must dodge.
"It's a little bit of a headache having to go around and find alternate routes. It does impact my commute, but I just work around it," Johnson said.
"It's only temporary. You want to see improvement, so they're making improvement," added Detroit resident Anthony Gavin.
The busy bridge is on the border of Oak Park and Huntington Woods in Oakland County. The Michigan Department of Transportation is shutting it down for repairs.
"We're going to be doing deck patching and joint replacement on the bridge; we've got false decking underneath the bridge already, so nothing will fall down onto traffic down below," said MDOT spokesperson Diane Cross.
Coolidge Bridge is one of dozens of bridges to get improvements and is part of the multi-million dollar Restore the Reuther project between I-696 and I-75.
"Unfortunately, it is a necessary evil. Once we're done, we're not going to have to be out here other than maintenance. We won't have any of these major projects for two to three decades," Cross said.
A barrier drivers say will add a few more minutes to their commute, but a diversion they're fully equipped to handle.
"Nothing we can do, so just be positive and hope for the best and just be patient," Johnson said.
MDOT says this bridge work will take about a month and is expected to reopen late August, depending on the weather.
However, the service drive on both sides of 10 Mile Road is still open to traffic. In the meantime, drivers can use the turnarounds to get to the other side of Coolidge Highway.
