Berdan/I-75 traffic shift begins tonight, starts series of changes

10/4/2016

A traffic shift that starts at 9 p.m. and will close permanently the Berdan Avenue entrance to southbound I-75 is just the start of a series of changes planned during coming weeks during a major phase change for freeway reconstruction between I-475 and Lagrange Street.

Overnight, I-75’s southbound lanes will be shifted onto new pavement between Berdan and Central avenues.

This will require one of two lanes to be closed between Lagrange and Central while new pavement connections are made and new lane stripes are painted.

The transition is scheduled for completion by 6 a.m. Tuesday. Motorists exiting to westbound I-475 will continue to use the existing I-75 alignment after Berdan for a few weeks longer, but will have to make that decision near Berdan rather than farther south.

Later this month, state contractors are scheduled to shift northbound I-75 onto a new viaduct over Berdan and Detroit avenues. When this occurs, the northbound exit to Berdan also will close permanently and a rebuilt exit at Jeep Parkway will open.

When the I-75 reconstruction and widening between I-475 and Lagrange is finished in 2018, a fully reopened Jeep Parkway interchange and the Phillips Avenue ramps will provide all freeway access in that area.

But for much of the upcoming construction phase, only the new exit at Jeep and three ramps at Phillips — the northbound entrance and exit, and the southbound exit — will be open.

ODOT has not yet announced a date for when the southbound entrance from Phillips will close for reconstruction. But when that happens, there will be no entrances to southbound I-75 open between the Stickney/Lagrange interchange and I-475.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.