By Staff
NILES - The detour for the M-51 project will go into effect sometime around mid-day on Monday. That means the project will be starting on schedule, with an expected completion of Oct. 28, according Neil C. Coulston, Public Works Director for the City of Niles.
The detour will take northbound M-51 traffic east on Main Street to M-60BR (Oak Street), to 17th Street, north on 17th Street to Lake, and west on Lake Street back to M-51. Southbound M-51 traffic will not be detoured.
The M-51 resurfacing project from the Indiana state line to Maple Street started on Monday and will continue until around the end of May.
Traffic is maintained during this project, but with over 20,000 vehicles a day there is significant congestion on this stretch. Once the current segment of resurfacing from Maple St. to just south of Fort Sreet. is completed, they will do the next segment from that point to around Fulkerson Road, which will then be followed by the Fulkerson Road. to state line segment.
Around June 6, the Brandywine Creek culvert replacement project will start, creating another detour for northbound traffic until the end of September.
Northbound traffic will be detoured east on US-12 to the East Main St exit (near Southwestern Michigan College), then west on East Main to Silverbrook, and west on Silverbrook to M-51 (S. 11th). Southbound traffic will not be detoured.
The US-12BR (Chicago Rd./Lincoln Ave.) from Grant St. to US-12 bypass (near SMCAS) resurfacing project is expected to start around July 11th and end on or about August 19, with traffic maintained during that project.
Accortding to Mike Schultz, MDOT Inspector, Howard Street and Ferry Street on the East side of M-51 (Fifth Street) will be closed at the intersection beginning mid-Monday. Also, the signal at Fifth and Sycamore will be switched to flash, forcing Sycamore Street traffic to stop for M-51 traffic and allowing M-51 traffic to flow continuously.