WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is preparing for a major road construction project affecting M-14 and I-96.
The reconstruction project began Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, and lane and ramp closures started at 9 a.m.
MDOT Public Information Officer Diane Cross spoke to Local 4 about the project while giving insight into what drivers could expect.
“The M-14/I-96 project, which last year we started doing some prep work, but this year is the real heavy-duty construction that’s going to start soon this weekend, Saturday, and Sunday. What’s happening is we are taking eastbound M-14 that then turns into I-96 down to two lanes.
Westbound, though, from roughly, let’s say, Newburgh to Beck, we’re going to take you down to one lane, and it’s going to go all weekend into the following week, and there’s going to be a number of ramps closures in there, including to southbound I-275, drivers on southbound I-275 will not be able to go west on M-14, and a lot of folks take that to get home to Ann Arbor, that’s going to be closed all weekend."
MDOT Public Information Officer Diane Cross
Cross said eastbound M-14, which transitions into I-96, will be reduced to two lanes for the weekend.
Meanwhile, westbound traffic from Newburgh Road to Beck Road will be limited to one lane, extending into the following week. This will include numerous ramp closures, notably affecting drivers on southbound I-275, who will be unable to head west on M-14.
“Come Monday morning, we’ll open the ramps, but we still keep westbound I-96/M-14 from again Newburgh out to Beck down to one lane in anticipation of the following weekend, when we have to start doing some closures to do pavement markings and get ready to move the barrier wall so that we can set it up for actual construction.”
MDOT Public Information Officer Diane Cross
Due to a blowout underground with some water and a void underneath the ground, Cross said they’ll have to do a repair going westbound which was why they’ll keep drivers down to one lane for about a week.
“We have to fix that before we can set up the final construction phase. So there’s a lot of moving parts to this, so I really need drivers to follow michigan.gov/drive it’s called My Drive because there’s going to be ramps that are opening and closing all of this weekend into next weekend.
But next weekend, eastbound goes down to one lane, and all of the ramps close Beck, Sheldon, 275, Newburgh, Levan will be the first point you can get in.
So if you don’t get on at Godfredson to go eastbound, you can’t get on again until Newburgh because we’re tearing up all of eastbound, and we’ve got you down to one lane, it’s really going to be very rough for people if they if they’re not aware of it if they need to get on to 275 they’re going to need to do it off of maybe Newberg, which is going to have a lot of heavier traffic on the local roads. But again, this is another project that needs a lot of planning ahead of time."
MDOT Public Information Officer Diane Cross
The project also includes a complete reconstruction of the freeway, which is essential due to the aging infrastructure.
“The freeway has been around 25 to 30 years, and we’ve patched it as much as we can patch it,” said Cross. “When we dig all that up, we’ll fix the drainage problem. We got a drainage problem near Sheldon, where we get a lot of water coming off the slope that then freezes.”
Cross said there’s a lot of work going on, and it will involve many moving parts because the interchange with I-275 would be affected.
Some of those ramps will be open, some will be closed, and drivers will have to stay on top of the project, which has a website called M14reconstruction.org where MDOT organizes all the information on M-14 or you can visit My Drive at Michigan.gov/drive to see the whole state and other projects.
Drivers are urged to plan ahead and consider alternative routes. This is especially important since the M-14 and I-96 projects will coincide with other construction efforts, such as the I-696 project, affecting eastbound traffic.
“If either of these eastbound routes are part of your normal route, you are going to have to plan differently or at least give yourself a lot more time,” Cross said.
Safety remains a top priority for MDOT, with a strong emphasis on cautious driving through construction zones.
“We need drivers to slow down,” Cross said. “Whatever hurry you’re in is not worth killing somebody or yourself. So please, in these construction zones, there are workplaces, and we need you to do the right thing, which means both hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road, and a safe speed through our construction zone.”
MDOT Public Information Officer Diane Cross talks M-14/I-96 construction project:
