When Darrin Joiner moved from Brownstown to Lake Orion in March, he knew he would have a longer commute to work in Dearborn.
But he didn’t count on stop light after stop light needlessly impeding his travel to I-75 before 6 a.m. every morning.
‘We moved here because we have family in Rochester,? said Joiner, who lives on Hiram. ‘We love it here.?
Something he doesn’t love, however, is using M-24 which he said has more stop lights than is necessary.
‘I leave before 6 a.m., and I have to stop at certain lights where there’s no one there,? Joiner said. ‘In Brownstown, there were a lot of lights too, but at certain times of the day, they were left blinking.?
Orion Township Supervisor Jerry Dywasuk said he shares Joiner’s concerns, but that M-24 is under the jurisdiction of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), not the township.
‘With the light in front of Home Depot, MDOT never talked to us about that because Home Depot paid for it,? he said.
‘I have been working with the road commission and MDOT and we are working on a M-24 access management plan,? Dywasuk said. ‘If you don’t plan, there are unintended consequences.?
Jeff Edwards, transportation planner for MDOT’s metro region office in Southfield, will be the access management project manager for the M-24 corridor.
He said MDOT has completed similar studies on M-25 in Port Huron, M-153 in Canton and M-59 in White Lake.
‘Now we’re getting ready to do one on M-24,? he said. ‘We will be choosing a consultant to study the corridor, starting after the first of the year and ending on Sept. 30 (of 2006).?
Edwards said the study will address only access to the road, not stop lights.
‘Traffic lights are not a part of access management,’he said. ‘It’s possible a recommendation might come out of the study regarding signal timing, but it won’t be studied in depth.?
Instead, Edwards said, the study will consider ways to consolidate driveways in commercial areas, adding service drives, and driveways that are too close to intersections.
‘We hope to involve the businesses along the corridor,? he said. ‘The study will be along M-24 from I-75 in Auburn Hills to the county line.?
Another major part of the project will involve assisting the communities along the corridor with putting together language to add to their zoning ordinances.
‘We’ll help them come up with some guidelines for future access,? Edwards said. ‘We’ll also be holding a series of public meetings as the study goes on.?
Most of the meetings will most likely take place in Orion Township, he said, because it’s pretty centrally located along M-24.
Edwards cautions that residents like Joiner who are eager to see improvements might have to wait a few years to see a difference.
‘Access management is not an instant type of improvement on a roadway,? he said. ‘It occurs over time. Once the study is done, there won’t be instant improvements.?
‘We don’t want to raise anyone’s anticipations,? Jerry Dywasuk said. ‘It’s too costly to widen M-24.?