By Jim Newell
Review Editor
The Baldwin Road widening and streetscape project slated to begin this spring has been pushed back a year, while the Brown Road widening project will begin this summer.
Orion Twp. officials are working with the Michigan Dept. of Transportation to delay the M-24 resurfacing project that was originally scheduled for 2019, hoping to push that project to 2020.
“The reality is, we’re going to have four years of road work, which people aren’t going to like, but it’s going to be worth it when it’s all finished,” said Orion Twp. Supervisor Chris Barnett.
“Over four years we’re going to have over $100 million of road projects. This might stress out many people, but most supervisors, mayors and city managers are jealous of the love we’re getting here in Orion Twp. and I’m pretty proud of that,” Barnett said.
Brown Road project
The Brown Road project includes widening the road to five lanes throughout, between Joslyn and Baldwin roads.
“We’re going to spend about $5 million to widen Brown Road, that’s happening this summer, for sure, it’s about a three-month project. We’ll more than likely start in July and it should be under construction in July, August and September,” Barnett said.
The project is financed through the township’s Corridor Improvement Authority and will not be a direct cost to taxpayers.
“The Corridor Improvement Authority is a tax capture, not a tax increase, so it allows us to capture on the increases (in taxable value in the area), with a portion of the taxes being put back into the corridor,” Barnett said.
Barnett said the north side of Brown Road is underdeveloped and widening the road will be more conducive to business development along that stretch of the township.
There are plans for a Menards home improvement store build on a new site on Brown Road, and the project will accommodate the expected increased traffic from that and other developments.
Baldwin Road
Phase one of the Baldwin Road project was initially planned to begin this May, with phase two scheduled for 2018.
That project has been pushed back a year because the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) needed more time to acquire the necessary properties and easements to begin the project. There are currently about 5-6 properties that the road commission needs to purchase before the project can begin, Barnett said.
“They’ll do some utility relocation this summer, they might tear down some buildings that the road commission has purchased, so they’ll be some stuff that they’ll be doing but the bulk of the road construction will now be in 2018 and 2019,” Barnett said.
The Baldwin Road project had an original cost of around $38 million, but now the project cost “is pushing $50 million” Barnett said.
“It’s a federal aid funded eligible road, which means 80 percent of the funds come from the federal government; 20 percent is local match, so 10 percent from the road commission and 10 percent from Orion Twp.,” he said. “When it’s all said and done we’ll have about $5 million of Orion Twp. dollars into the road project.”
The project calls for Baldwin Road to be widened to a four-lane boulevard from Morgan Road to Judah Road; to five lanes from Judah to Gregory; to a narrow median four-lane boulevard from Gregory to Maybee Road; and back to a standard four-lane boulevard from Maybee to Waldon Road, according to the RCOC project overview.
There will be five new roundabouts at Gregory, Waldon, Maybee and Judah roads, and at the Great Lakes Athletic Center; concrete curb and gutter construction; and improved lighting and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant crosswalks.
The project also calls for road resurfacing and crosswalk construction at each of the roundabouts.
The plans also call for two pocket parks, one at Jordan and Baldwin roads, and the other at Gregory Road and Baldwin. Pocket parks design options range from open greenspace to a café-style layout with stonework, tables and chairs and overhead coverings.
Roadway median designs range from simple grass and low bushes to lavish floral gardens.
Plans also include median designs from Judah to the north end of the project, with streetscape designs on either side of Baldwin Road running the length of the project.
RCOC Director of Engineering Tom Blust says the plan is to begin phase one of the project at the south end of Morgan up to Gregory.
A potential season three of the construction will include site restoration and cleanup.
“The public should expect it to take the better part of three years,” Blust said. “Traffic will be open both ways during the project.”
The preliminary plan is for phase two of the project to begin now in the spring of 2019 and includes the roundabouts in front of the Great Lakes Athletic Club and at Maybee and Waldon roads, as well as construction of the four-lane boulevard.
“This is where we dream big, it’s not about putting our names on signs and plaques. This is what I get excited about. We have a really amazing project that can leave a mark on the community for decades to come, to put pedestrian-friendly amenities on Baldwin Road that will attract people to our community and make it feel really friendly and welcoming,” Barnett said.
“We’ve hired landscape architects out of Columbus, Ohio and I’ve given them the task to dream big, come up with really cool ideas, unique things that will add to the charm of our community.”
M-24 in 2019
M-24 is scheduled to be resurfaced in Orion Twp. and the Village of Lake Orion from just north of Clarkston Road to the Oxford border. The work is a Michigan Dept. of Transportation project, and also calls for road reconstruction on M-24 through Oxford.
Barnett said he met with MDOT and RCOC officials and asked to have the Orion Twp. part of the M-24 resurfacing project pushed back a year so that it would not coincide with the final year of the Baldwin Road project.
Barnett said 70,000 cars per day travel on Baldwin Road and M-24 through Orion Twp. and the Village of Lake Orion.
“To have construction on Baldwin and M-24 at the same time is just impossible,” Barnett said. “They are the only two main roads from our northern to southern borders. It would be chaos.”
Barnett said MDOT officials agreed that the overlapping construction would be problematic and are looking into the possibility of pushing the M-24 resurfacing back to 2020.
The problem, Barnett said, is that by asking for the delay, the township doesn’t want to have the project “pushed to the bottom of the list and then not have M-24 resurfaced until 2029, or something.”