In response to a resident’s question, the deferring of the installation of storm drains on Clarkston Road when it is repaved this summer is attributable to the fact that MDOT restrictions will not currently allow for excavation deeper that 6-12 inches in the work area due to a years-old sub-surface contamination, according to Clarkston City Manager Jonathan Smith.
“Even if we could obtain MDOT’s approval to allow excavation, the road commission and the city currently do not have a solution on where to drain the storm water,” Smith said in his weekly communication. “So the conclusion reached in a January 10 meeting with the road commission was that the ideal solution of (1) widening Clarkston Road, (2) extending the right turn lane, (3) installing curbs and gutters with storm drains and (4) relocating the utility service boxes and poles must be deferred to a future date when excavation would be permitted.
“In the meantime, to buy some time until that ‘future date,’ Clarkston Road desperately needs to be capped with new asphalt. Is this the preferred conclusion? No. But it’s a realistic one given the circumstances.”