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CURTIS OSTRANDER	DUAINE HARDING
ELEANOR TODD	ELMER "BUD" HAHN
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MDOT agrees to pay $500,000 to pave 34 Mile

by JENNIFER PRESTON
Observer Staff Writer

      Local residents who will find themselves having to enter M-53 at 34 Mile Road instead of 33 Mile Road after the bypass construction is complete were given some good news recently.
       The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has agreed to commit $500,000 to the paving of 34 Mile Road. In addition, MDOT will perform a traffic study for the intersection of M-53 and 34 Mile Road.
       According to MDOT, the money will be used to pave 34 Mile Road. In return, MDOT would use 34 Mile Road in conjunction with McKay and Scotch Settlement roads as a detour for future projects in the area.
       MDOT said it could start and finish paving 34 Mile Road as soon as this fall if the Road Commission of Macomb County and Bruce Township agree to kick in the additional money it may cost for the paving.
       "The department has agreed to contribute $500,000 toward the proposed future detour for M-53 from 34 Mile Road up to Bordman," said Drew Buckner, the manager of the Macomb Transportation Center for MDOT. "That's why we can contribute to a county road paving, because we have a tentative agreement with the Macomb County Road Commission to pay for this detour. The $500,000 is our contribution for that."
       Under normal conditions, the cost for paving a county road would fall entirely on the township and the county road commission. But since the road has already been deemed a detour, a majority of the cost can be absorbed by MDOT.
       Residents first started asking for the paving of 34 Mile last fall, after learning that construction to widen M-53 from a two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway would close off access to 33 Mile, a paved road, from the bypass. Those wishing to get on or off M-53 would be required to use 34 Mile, a dirt road, as their access point.
       The access was actually cut off in September 2003 when construction of the 33 Mile bridge began, but it was reinstated when the bridge was deemed unsafe and had to be torn down and rebuilt in November 2003. The rebuilt bridge is expected to be open sometime this spring. Access to 33 Mile from the bypass will then be permanently cut off.
       Edwin Tatem, chief highway engineer for the Macomb County Road Commission, said the estimated cost of the paving of 34 Mile Road is as high as $605,000.
       MDOT will pay $500,000, and the remaining $105,000 would be split between the township and the road commission, he said. Tatem estimates the township may have to pay approximately $60,000, since general practice is for the municipality to pay 60 percent, and the Road Commission to pay 40 percent for paving a county road.
       "$60,000 is a lot cheaper than $360,000, which is what they (Bruce Township) would have had to pay (had this not been a detour route)," Tatem said.
       Bruce Township Supervisor Gary Schocke said he hopes that the $500,000 will cover the entire paving project, as the township doesn't have many surplus funds to spend.
       "We're not in real financial shape to be paying for the paving of any road," Schocke said. "It should not cost any more than that."
       Though the detour project may include the paving of McKay and Scotch Settlement Roads in the future, the supervisor's main focus is 34 Mile.
       "Getting that one mile paved between McKay and Van Dyke, that is my first concern," he said.
       Schocke, who has been active in township paving projects in the past, said he will go out himself and get bids from paving contractors.
       "We operate on actual bidding amounts given to us by contractors, not estimates," he said. "I want to get us the best bang for our buck."
       The Road Commission will start design on the road this summer, and hopes to begin and complete construction in the fall.
       Bruce Township resident Don Ludeman, who regularly takes the bypass to and from 33 Mile, was one of the many residents who came to Bruce Township board meetings in November and December expressing his concern for the need to pave 34 Mile.
       He expressed his thanks to all of those parties involved in getting this paving made a reality.
       "They have restored my faith in local government," he said. "It just shows what a group of people can get done when they stick together."
       Macomb County Commissioner Don Brown helped voice the residents' concerns to MDOT and the Road Commission about the inconvenience of 34 Mile not being paved.
       "They're accelerating (work on that) detour route to accommodate our problem," Brown said. "It's a good example of government cooperation and effort; it's an example of how government is supposed to work. It was the whole community working together to explain the problem to MDOT, and they heard and acted. MDOT's willingness to advance this money on a project yet to be scheduled in stone is fairly remarkable. It shows MDOT's willingness to do what it takes to do what's best for the community."