south airport road traverse city construction april 2018

This creates a better traffic flow through the intersection and has helped alleviate back-ups on South Airport Road. Taking into account the heavy traffic on South Airport Road, the project consisted of not just reconstructing the road, but adding enhancements to it.įollowing the engineered plans, Team Elmer’s installed a right turn lane east of US-31 and a thru-traffic lane to the west. Using unique traffic control patterns also helped make the concrete road removal safe and successful. It was also in the center of the road, which made it difficult for Team Elmer’s to allow enough room to maintain traffic on one side while working on the other. The old road was 20 feet wide and close to the entire length of the project. With this mentality, Team Elmer’s and their partners were able to finish the South Airport Road project four weeks early, despite the two-week delay.Īnother challenge was removing the old eight-inch thick concrete road ranging from six inches to six feet deep underneath the existing asphalt road that had been built over top of the concrete. With this challenge, Team Elmer’s was happy to work with subcontractors that held the same mentality as them – to look at the schedule and see how the team can adjust. One challenge Team Elmer’s encountered was the weather: Two separate, out-of-the-ordinary winter storms hindered the project start date by two weeks. Business owners along the road also needed to be provided with access, as South Airport Road is a large commercial route. The owner of the project, Grand Traverse County Road Commission, worked with Team Elmer’s to adopt a different traffic control pattern to help alleviate the impact on travelers. Team Elmer’s came in as the low bidder on the project and was ready to take on the challenges, one of which was dealing with the heavy traffic on South Airport Road. After years of heavier-than-anticipated traffic, South Airport Road from US-31 to Veterans Drive was in need of a complete reconstruction.

South Airport Road is one of the most traveled roadways in Traverse City and is routinely operating at or above capacity.

South airport road traverse city construction april 2018