So many potholes, so few dollars and crews for repairs
BY MATT HELMS • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • May 5, 2008
When you see more potholes and fewer crews out repairing them this year, you can thank money problems that increasingly limit what county road commissions can do to keep up. The most obvious option for raising money to fix Michigan's local roads is a gas tax increase -- unwelcome, to be polite, in a state with a crippled economy and drivers paying dearly at the pump.
An expensive hit from last season's heavy snowfall, rising costs for fuel and materials and shrinking revenue from the state's gas tax have combined for a perfect storm of money troubles for county road commissions. The agencies are cutting back on staff and equipment and scaling back road projects and maintenance so they can stay within budget.
Revenues from the state gas tax and vehicle registrations, the chief sources of local road funding, continue a long-term decline because motorists are cutting back on driving and automobiles are getting more fuel efficient. Between October and February, revenue from the state gas tax fell 2.4% and vehicle registrations fell 2.7%, according to the Road Commission for Oakland County.
That's having a big impact:
• The Oakland road commission said it spent $12 million on maintenance last season, up from nearly $9.5 million in 2004-05. Spokesman Craig Bryson said that was previously the commission's most expensive winter maintenance season in recent memory.
The road commission said it has to trim $2 million from its budget. The commission said it has 18 vacant positions it can't afford to fill and is preparing to further reduce its workforce and cut back on repair and maintenance projects.
• Wayne County Roads Director Lorenzo Blount said his staff has been reduced to 397 workers from 562 in 2005, mostly through layoffs, and the agency hasn't purchased new trucks in more than two years.
There are fewer workers to patch potholes, Blount said. "Our guys have done an excellent job of trying to fill in the gap, but it's beginning to show."
• The Road Commission of Macomb County said it has spent $4.5 million of its annual funding for maintenance of state roads under contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation. County highway engineer Bob Hoepfner said the commission and others around the state will have to ask MDOT for more money for summertime upkeep.
Hoepfner said the Macomb commission has 40 job vacancies it hasn't filled since 2005 and is replacing fewer pieces of equipment.
John Niemela, director of the County Road Association of Michigan, said the situation can't be sustained.
"Our infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating, and there's no way around fixing it," Niemela said. "At the end of the day, someone's going to pay, and it's the individual motorist who's going to do it."
Niemela said county road commissions are responsible for about 75% of Michigan's 122,000 miles of roadway, but there's an estimated $2-billion shortfall each year for counties and cities to maintain them adequately.
Mike Nystrom, spokesman for the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association, said more money has to be raised.
Ultimately, it may come from proposals such as a 9-cent increase in the state's gas tax, now at 18.4 cents per gallon, combined with eliminating the state's 6% sales tax on gas. The sales tax on gas goes to the state's general fund, so that lost revenue would have to be replaced somehow.
Nystrom said a solution will require creative thinking in Lansing.
But if something isn't done, drivers will have to get used to road conditions worsening again, after a decade of gradual improvement.
"We're collecting less and we're paying more for our products," Nystrom said, "so we're paving fewer and fewer miles."
Contact MATT HELMS at driving@freepress.com.
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Businesses, residents brace for mess during Miller Road reconstruction
FLINT TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, May 05, 2008
By Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6317
FLINT TWP. - Betty Lawrence has seen a lot living 40 years on and around Miller Road, and she knows the big reconstruction that starts here today will be another sight to behold.
"Everyone who comes in talks about it," she said Friday from her home on Curtis Road, just north of Miller Road. "It's going to be a mess."
The Genesee County Road Commission, businesses and drivers who make Miller Road one of the busiest in the county hope that mess at least ends up being manageable.
They will start to find out today as Miller Road traffic shifted this morning from I-75 west to Manwaring Drive and the first chunks of road are torn up.
About 21,000 vehicles drive that stretch on an average day and now, they'll have to share one eastbound, one westbound and one turn lane for the next six weeks.
Also starting this week will be work in the intersection of Ballenger Highway and Miller.
As soon as that first phase of work is complete, contractor Zito Construction will move the work area from Manwaring to Linden Road before finishing work in the area from I-75 east toward Ballenger Highway.
John T. Plamondon, construction manager of the road commission, said that when traffic is shifted to the southern-most side of Miller today, work can start on tearing out concrete and asphalt in the northern-most lanes.
"Once we get it set up, things will go smoothly," said Plamondon, who said shoppers shouldn't be scared away from the township because of the job -even if it is the biggest the road commission ever has managed.
The work on Miller Road is expected to cost more than $10 million and continue until Sept. 15.
Those long months of slow going on Miller worries business owners such as Dave Barclay of Duke's Car Stereo. He's right in the heart of the project and already is worried about the potential for backups and frustration.
"Four months -that's an awful long time," Barclay said.
"My first hope was for a faster turnaround time."
Like others bracing for the reconstruction, Duke's will remind customers it has other Flint area locations that might be easier to get to.
Barclay said he knows most businesses don't have that luxury and believes the summerlong construction will cause some businesses to close before its over.
"It's definitely going to hurt, (and) it's tough enough already in this economy," he said.
At Dale's Natural Foods, Manager Deb Gustafson said some customers already are making plans for how to get to the health food store when Miller Road traffic slows.
Dale's is posting construction updates on its Web site, www.dalesnaturalfoods.net.
"We're really apprehensive, (but) exactly how it's going to affect us, we don't know," Gustafson said.
Area homeowners such as Lawrence, who live on Miller Road's remaining residential side streets, also have mixed feelings about the need to repair the road and the short-term aggravation.
Lawrence, 81, hasn't been driving a vehicle since a car accident in 2005, but she continues to walk on Curtis Road and has regular visitors. She moved her home here from Miller Road as property values soared because of the demand for retail property.
"I imagine we're going to get a lot of noise and smells," she said. "There's nothing much you can do about it but to be stuck."
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Officials break ground on Miller Road project
FLINT TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
By Ashley A. Smith
asmith@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6249
FLINT TWP. - Look out: Construction starts next week on busy Miller Road.
Federal, county and local officials donned yellow hard hats and grabbed shovels Monday to break ground and celebrate the beginning of construction on the commercial thoroughfare.
Although the project will cause lane closures, detours and traffic backups - the likelihood of which already is causing worries for some business owners - officials say the inconveniences will be offset by a smoother road, increased safety and better traffic flow when the project is completed.
"Thousands of people drive to work every day, go to stores and move from one end of the community to the other on this road," said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
The $10-million project from Linden Road to Ballenger Highway is the largest ever for the Genesee County Road Commission. Construction is expected to last through September.
Roseanna Knoack, manager of Bob Evans Restaurant, 3267 Miller Road, said she hopes construction ends on time.
"It depends on weather conditions, if they run into problems and drivers," said Knack. "All businesses will be slightly affected, but we're excited and hopeful we will maintain sales."
While under construction, traffic will be reduced from two lanes in each direction to one.
A left-turn lane also will remain open.
The first phase of construction will begin east of Manwaring Drive to I-75. It will include the ramp to southbound I-75 and the intersection of Miller Road and Lennon and Ballenger roads.
The first phase is expected to be completed in June.
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Ottawa Hills paving won't come cheap
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, April 07, 2008
Staff report
GRAND BLANC TWP. - The owners of 400 homes in the Ottawa Hills subdivision agree, as do township and Genesee County Road Commission officials: The roads in the township's second-largest subdivision absolutely need to be resurfaced.
The question is how the project - estimated at more than $6 million - should be funded.
Traditionally, the township has picked up 25 percent of the bill with the road commission covering the same amount and residents paying 50 percent through a special assessment district. But with the township's largest subdivision, Williamsburg Farms off Maple Avenue, slated to undergo the final phases of a two-year paving plan this summer, township officials can't offer an immediate guarantee of that level of contribution.
"I'm hoping we'll be able to contribute something, it just won't be as high as 25 percent. It's just where we are with our budget," said Clerk Linda Kingston.
The 25 percent contribution is not set in stone.
"Some townships in the county contribute nothing and never have. There's no legal requirement," said John H. Daly III, the road commission's manager-director.
The township is paying almost $1.3 million over 10 years for the Williamsburg Farms project.
About 150 Ottawa Hills residents attended the first of three required hearings on the matter March 25 at the township hall. Road commission officials provided a ballpark estimate of the cost and answered questions.
"Frankly, people were shocked by the estimate," said Jerry Bergler, Ottawa Hills Residents Association vice president.
The preliminary estimate is more than $6 million. If the township contributed nothing - the scenario laid out at the meeting by the road commission - homeowners would have to pay almost $5 million. A homeowner with 100 feet of property frontage would pay more than $11,000 over 10 years. That's an extra $92 a month, a potential burden especially for those on a fixed income.
"People were sticker-shocked by the amount," Bergler said.
When residents began their petition process in 2005 for a special assessment district, estimates were roughly $3.8 million, he said. But the price of everything is going up - Daly said prices for materials and labor are going up 6 percent to 8 percent annually.
Even so, some residents may circulate a counterpetition to stop the process. They have 45 days from the date of the March 25 hearing to file a petition and would need signatures from 51 percent of residents. Bergler said it took almost six months to complete the original petition for the special assessment district.
"My argument to them is, 'What's the solution?' You can stop this process ... what's the plan to fix the roads?"
There really is none.
The road commission will hold a second informational meeting for the special assessment district, followed by a third required public meeting to present official estimates.
"It's a very conservative process, and it takes some time," Daly said. "The reason it's set up that way is because potentially downstream, you're placing the property owners in a position to pay for something they may not want."
Or at least, may not want to pay for.
"I know that the board (wants) to help them as much as we possibly can," Kingston said.
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Businesses brace for blow on Miller Road
FLINT TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, April 07, 2008
Staff report
FLINT TWP. - Business owners along Miller Road believe its reconstruction is a necessity, but one that will cause a decline in their profits this summer.
"I know they're trying to make it painless, but it's still going to be painful," said Daniel Andrews, owner of Fuddruckers, 2373 Austin Place. "The businesses still have to pay bills and taxes."
Andrews and others gathered last week at the final public meeting on the project to discuss the impact of the busy road's reconstruction. While he acknowledges the necessity and eventual benefits of the reconstruction, Andrews fears the short-term financial losses during his peak summer season.
"We market Miller Road with billboards," Andrews said. "That's how we draw that traffic," he said of I-75. "This is going to discourage that."
Fuddruckers has only one entrance and exit off of Miller Road.
The project will repair Miller Road between Linden Road and Ballenger Highway, a stretch of about two miles. The construction will be split into three phases from May 5 through Sept. 15.
"There is no convenient time to do a road. Short-term, there is going to be adverse impact of traffic flow," said John Daly, manager-director of the Genesee County Road Commission. "But the road will stay for 15 to 20 years."
Daly said the construction will be completed before the peak fall shopping season. The road commission will keep the public informed about the construction through a daily or weekly e-mail service, he added.
In a presentation outlining the reconstruction, construction manager John Plamondon promised three lanes of traffic - a single lane going in each direction plus a left-turn lane - at all times; open driveway access to all the businesses; changeable message signs on I-75; and weekly updates to the public through an e-mail notifier service.
"My main concern is customers getting to the stores," said Mark Kloeckner, owner of Oreck Vacuums, 4270 Miller Road. "I'm going to see how they're going to accommodate the customers so I could pass along the information to them."
Jay Wise, district manager of Northwest Tires and Service, 4545 Miller Road, said the project needs to take place, but he doesn't understand why it's in the summer.
The majority of Northwest's business is from walk-ins, and he's expecting it to suffer with diminished traffic flow.
"If they get it done in the manner they described, I don't see a problem, but there's a lot of 'ifs,'" Wise said. "You don't beat your car up and then get it repaired."
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Winter costs slash road repair budget
GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, March 31, 2008
By Holly Klaft
hklaft@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6249
GENESEE COUNTY - Drivers may have to endure crumbling county
roads awhile longer.
Harsh weather and high prices for petroleum products this winter
has the Genesee County Road Commission planning cutbacks in
summer maintenance projects to make up for the increased winter
spending.
Efforts to repair guardrails and patch or replace small sections
of roads, along with other regular maintenance projects, will
be reduced.
"We're going to provide the same type of services, there's
just going to be a curtailment on what's available and when
we can do it," said John Daly, the Road Commission's manager-director.
"We won't be cutting out any one thing, but there will
be an impact across the board."
Soaring diesel fuel and asphalt costs and cuts in funding for
roads are the culprits, Daly said.
The unusually snowy winter also played a part because plows
and salt trucks were operating more often than in previous winters.
About 85 percent of the commission's fuel budget has been spent
already, including $433,000 on diesel in January and February.
The biggest impact of the cuts will be on subdivision streets,
rural roads and other areas with less traffic, Daly said. Crews
also will spend fewer days during the week repairing roads,
and weekend and holiday work may be saved only for emergencies,
he said.
Roads with the most dangerous or potentially damaging potholes
will be repaired, Daly said. But, drivers still may have to
deal with some of the shallower pavement pits.
It's something Keisha Chandler, 20, isn't looking forward
to.
The Flint resident said she spent nearly $1,000 to repair the
damage potholes caused to her car about three years ago.
"It's upsetting," Chandler said. "I was driving
25 (mph), and it still did it."
Daly said drivers should travel at lower speeds on some roads
to allow for the pulverized pavement.
"The bad part of it is, it doesn't mean that the work
doesn't need to be done, it just gets postponed to some point
in the future where you assume you'll have enough money,"
he said.
Other communities may face similar predicaments.
Swartz Creek already has exceeded its budget for snow removal,
said City Manager Paul Bueche. Now the costs to keep the roads
cleared and patched could come out of money normally set aside
for maintenance projects.
But he assures residents that the city's potholes will be filled.
"We're going to have less money in the grand scheme of
things for major repairs," he said. "The ripple effect
of that is profound."
He said he's not sure when the city's residents could see the
effect of this season's costs.
"Whether it's this summer or summers to come, it's hard
to determine," Bueche said.
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Ruined roads may go gravel
RUSH TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, March 24, 2008
By Ken Palmerkpalmer@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6313
RUSH TWP. - Dwayne Nixon gazed toward the crumbling, paper-thin
asphalt at the end of his father's driveway and tried to remember
when the road was just gravel.
That goes all the back to his early childhood, said Nixon,
49, who grew up in the house on Bingham Road, south of Allan
Road. "It looks like this every spring," he said.
"Been like this ever since I can remember."
Nixon may see how the road looked when his father, Bill, moved
into the house in 1957. The one-mile stretch of Bingham between
Henderson and Allan roads is so damaged that the Shiawassee
County Road Commission has recommended pulverizing the asphalt
and rebuilding the road with gravel. Odd though it seems, some
counties have begun reverting paved roads to gravel - temporarily,
at least - because it costs too much to repair them. While general
construction costs continue to climb, the price of asphalt -
a petroleum-based product - has doubled in the past decade.
Meanwhile, road revenue has remained the same, said Lonny Latunski,
managing director of the road commission.
"We've had no growth whatsoever in income," Latunski
said. "There's no sun on the horizon, either." Even
so, Latunski said he was a little surprised to learn that Gratiot,
Kent and Ionia already have either begun grinding up bad roads
and maintaining them as gravel or might do so this spring. "We're
not quite in that position," he said. "But with the
current funding situation, it could very easily happen in other
areas." Road officials in Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties
said they have no plans to go down that road. But with maintenance
costs rising, returning paved roads to gravel will become a
more attractive option
"We really don't want to do that, but if worse comes to
worst, a gravel surface is much easier to maintain than an asphalt
surface," said Richard Hill, design department manager
for the Genesee County Road Commission. "It's something
that we have out there as a possible option." While asphalt
prices have skyrocketed, at least some agencies have benefited
from a highly competitive bidding environment. Contractors hungry
for work are covering some of the increases in material costs,
road officials said. "We're actually paying $2 a ton less
than we did last year," said Rick Pearson, managing director
of the Lapeer County Road Commission. "We have more people
bidding the jobs out there than we ever have." Swartz Creek
City Manager Paul Bueche said the city is seeing good bid prices
as it moves ahead with larger road projects, but it can't give
local streets enough attention.
"We've looked at that option for local streets, simply
because we don't have the money to repair them," he said,
referring to gravel. "If we don't repave them, that's what
happens naturally." In Shiawassee County, a section of
road was returned to gravel a few years ago because no money
was available to repave it, Latunski said. The road commission
is proposing to do the same with Bingham Road, parts of which
essentially are gravel.
In some places, the road bed is nothing but overlapping, peeling
layers of patch material, In others, dirt and gravel lay at
the bottom of sinkhole-like depressions surrounded by crumbling
asphalt. "Large sections are breaking up into marble-size
pieces, and there's no real way to fix it," Latunski said.
"The actual cross-section gets so beat up that the only
way to fix it is to grind it up and reset the grade."
Local governments pay the majority of local road projects.
And township officials aren't sure if they want to pulverize
Bingham Road this year or wait until next year to repair it,
he said.
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Rescue
Road commission rides to rescue
MT. MORRIS TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, February 29, 2008
By Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6317
MT. MORRIS TWP. - A man stranded in his pickup on one of the
coldest mornings this year says he might owe his life to a
Genesee County Road Commission driver who stopped to help
him. Scott St. Meyers, 33, of Saginaw County said he waited
nearly two hours for someone to stop after his truck quit
running on I-75, north of Pierson Road. Whipping winds of
up to 40 mph made it feel like up to 30 degrees below zero
early Feb. 11.
"I had tears in my eyes (when he stopped)," said
Meyers, who had no cellphone on his way to work that morning.
"Everything was numb ... I couldn't feel my legs or hands."
Road Commission driver Aaron Snider, 36, of Clio spotted Meyers,
helped him to his truck and took him home. Snider had been
on the job less than six months. "People nowadays don't
take time to check (if someone is stranded, but) I think people
need to do more things like that," Snider said.
GENESEE COUNTY - Roads in Flint are getting better even as more streets are falling into disrepair almost everywhere else in the county, a new report based on 2007 testing says.
The number of road miles in Flint considered to be in fair, poor, very poor or failed conditions dropped from nearly 50 in 2003 to 37.7 when streets were evaluated in late August and early September.
With exception of the tiny village of Otter Lake and the city of Clio, the number of miles rated in the worst-condition category increased in every other city and all townships collectively during that same time.
"We do have an older road network ... and it is really difficult to keep up," said Julie Hinterman, director of the county Planning Commission, which published the report.
The exception: the city of Flint, where Mayor Don Williamson has pushed streets and public works as top priorities.
"I don't know what the other areas are doing. All I can say to you is, we are in the best shape we have been in many, many years," Williamson said.
Some of Flint's roads improved before the state takeover of the city ended in 2004 but Williamson has overseen major projects, such as the rebuilding of Flushing Road and Third Avenue this year and ultra-thin asphalt resurfacing of side streets as well.
"It was worth the wait because our road was in deplorable condition. We had potholes about as big as cars," said Betty Pavlovich, 51, a Flushing Road resident for 19 years.
"I can't tell you how many rims (and) how many tires we had gone through. It's the best now that it's been since we've lived here," Pavlovich said.
The county uses a zero-to-10 scale to rate roads eligible for federal aid with a 10 representing a new road and a 1 representing a road that has failed and needs total reconstruction.
Countywide, the number of road miles rated in the zero-to-4 category - the roads in the worst condition - has increased from 113 in 2003 to 442 this year while the number of roads rated in the best category - scored 8 to 10 - has dropped from 221 to 168.
John Daly, county Road Commission manager-director, said some of the change is because of changes in the way roads are evaluated, but he believes the overall trend is that streets are deteriorating faster than they can be repaired.
"I agree with the trend and what the trend reflects is the amount of dollars flowing into our roads for maintenance is decreasing and what we can do is less because prices are going up," Daly said.
Daly said an increase in the 6-cents-per-gallon the county receives in gasoline taxes needs to be increased and said he expects the Road Commission to shift its emphasis in 2008 to primary roads.
The gas tax generates about $42 million annually for the county Road Commission.
Fenton City Manager Michael Senyko said he hasn't noticed as drastic a shift in street conditions as numbers in the report tend to indicate but said the trend is believable because money doesn't go as far as it once did.
Fenton's 13.4 miles of road included 5.6 miles rated in the lowest category, 6.9 miles rated as needing preventative maintenance and less than 1 mile rated as needing only routine maintenance.
Senyko said two major road jobs - Silver Lake Road and Adelaide Street - scheduled in the near future will significantly improve driving in the city.
Flint City Councilman Scott Kincaid said major road jobs with state and federal money have improved getting around in Flint but the verdict is still out on money that's been spent on thin overlays of asphalt on less-traveled streets.
"The big question is how long it will hold up in two or three years?" Kincaid said.
Friday, December 07, 2007
By John H. Daly III
I completely agree with The Flint Journal editorial regarding the pending reconstruction of Miller Road between Ballenger Highway and Linden Road [Nov. 12, Page A10]. As you correctly assessed: " even under ideal circumstances, the price will include a major disruption to this county's prime commercial district ...." But let me take this opportunity to assure you and your readers that every person involved in this project is keenly aware of the crucial nature of this corridor and that every effort is being made to keep disruption to a minimum.
For one thing, the project is on an extremely tight construction schedule, with actual road work to begin in early May and be completed by mid-September, before the holiday rush begins. Also, the work will be done in stages. Phase I (the segment of Miller between I-75 and Lennon Road) will be completed by mid-June when Phase II (the segments from Lennon Road to Linden Road and from Ballenger to I-75) begins.
Further, three lanes of traffic (one lane in each direction and a center left-turn lane) will be kept open at all times during both phases.
We have also established a "Miller Road Program" page on our Web site (www.gcrc.org/miller_road.html), with project timelines, the latest news, funding information, video presentations, frequently asked questions and a link to contact us directly. It soon will also have a link to video cameras placed along Miller Road for a "live" look at construction progress and traffic conditions.
Perhaps most importantly, there is a link that enables users to be automatically notified by e-mail when the Web page is updated. Using this feature, you could be automatically notified when the next public meeting on this project is scheduled, for example.
Some disruption is inevitable on a project of this nature, but we intend to do all we can to make it as brief and painless as possible.
John H. Daly III
Remember: a flashing yellow arrow = turn with caution.
You may have begun to notice a new style of left-turn signal
on Michigan's roads. Placed OVER the left-turn lane at a signalized
intersection, this new signal display includes a flashing yellow
arrow.
In coming years, this type of signal will replace all flashing
red left-turn signals.
* It's safer. A national study demonstrated that drivers made
fewer mistakes with the new signals than with traditional left-turn
arrow signals.
* It's more efficient The new signals provide traffic engineers
with more options to handle variable traffic volumes.
* It's more consistent. You'll see the same signals in every state
because the new signals will be mandated throughout the U.S
FLINT TWP. - Just before the start of the 2008 holiday season,
just after Halloween decorations come down, the Genesee County
Road Commission will give merchants and their customers along
one of the county's busiest thoroughfares a $12.5-million gift,
according to The Flint Township News' Web site, www.mlive.com/flinttownship.
The gift: A new and improved Miller Road.
Construction on the 4.75-mile stretch of Miller Road, between
the Flint city limits at Ballenger Highway west to the old Lansing
Highway, should start sometime next spring, said John Daly, manager-director
of the Genesee County Road Commission.
The project should be completed by late October, or early November
at the latest, said Daly, who spoke at the October meeting of
the West Flint Business Association.
"This project is kinda like a duck you see swimming in a
pond," Daly said. While the duck may appear to be floating
leisurely across the water, "you look underneath and the
duck is paddling like hell."
The construction work will include not only rebuilding Miller
Road, but the placement of curbside "cutouts" for buses
that will enable them to pick up and drop off passengers without
stopping traffic.
The logjam at the entry points onto I-75 will function more efficiently
with the addition of dual turn lanes.
Traffic signals also will be replaced with a radio-controlled
system that will respond "to traffic that is actually there,
rather than the traffic we think is going there," Daly said.
The estimated price tag of $12.5 million makes the Miller Road
project the most expensive in the history of the road commission,
Daly said.
On Nov. 2, bids will be accepted for the reconstruction, and
on Nov. 7 bids will be accepted for the replacement of signal
lights along the road, Daly explained.
"We started looking at this in terms of the initial look
in 2002, and started putting the pieces together, how we were
going to break the project into sections ... in '03, '04 and really
starting putting it together in '06," Daly said.
While landscaping of the street would be a nice addition, Daly
said there is no room in the current budget for cosmetic improvements.
During the business meeting, Larry Ford, deputy director of the
Flint Downtown Development Authority, suggested that construction
work on Miller Road continue at night.
But Daly ruled out that possibility, saying there's not enough
local personnel and equipment, such as lighting, to support such
an approach.
