East Huron River Drive road work, detour begin soon

Forty days of roadwork is expected to begin in April on East Huron River Drive between Liberty Street in Belleville and Martinsville Road in Van Buren Township.
A detour will be set up at Haggerty Road and East Huron River Drive, directing through traffic to the South I-94 Service Drive. Local traffic only will be allowed between Liberty and Martinsville while the work is under way, but it will be one-lane and is to be avoided.
This is the report given at Monday’s meeting of the Belleville City Council by Department of Public Works Director Keith Tackett. He said he had attended a pre-construction meeting with Wayne County and the exact date of the start of the work was yet to be announced.
Tackett said, weather permitting, the work will be done before Strawberry Festival. But, if not, the crews will move out on the Wednesday before Strawberry Festival and return on the Monday after the festival.
He said Liberty at East Huron River Drive will be completely closed at least four times for portions of the work.
There was some concern about movement of traffic when the Bayou’s car show is on. This event closes Main Street on Monday afternoons throughout the summer from Third to Fifth Street and so traffic is diverted to Liberty Street.
City Manager Diane Kollmeyer stated that High Street will not become a route for heavy truck traffic, since it would tear up the roadway.
Tackett said the Van Buren Public Schools have been made aware of the roadwork schedule since it will affect the bus route.
“It’s going to be a nightmare for the school buses,” Kollmeyer said.
Tackett said last week there was 48” of frost in the ground when a sewer problem was addressed in the alley between First and Second streets, and they had to dig through that. He said earlier Monday there was still 3 feet of frost in the ground.
The council considered ways to alert city residents to the construction, including a note on the water bills.