MARSHALL, Mich. — The news on the project to reconstruct I-69 between Marshall and Charlotte is generally good.
“This one is, I'm going to say, closer to 70 percent done,” notes Nick Schirripa, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Southwest Region.
The progress is on I-69 between Marshall in Calhoun County and Olivet in Eaton County, which is only a portion of the overall project. The first phase, begun in 2019, was replacing the pavement of both northbound and southbound I-69 between Olivet and Charlotte.
Now the northbound side of I-69 has been replaced between Marshall and Olivet. Only the northbound lanes were rebuilt because that section of freeway is 25 miles long. The southbound side gets replaced in 2023.
It’s not just the highway getting attention. Bridges over the freeway were rehabilitated or replaced. Work on the interchange at I-69 and I-94 continues.
The price tag indicates the large scope of the project: $210 million, paid through Governor Whitmer’s Rebuilding Michigan bonds.
The project is so big because several projects were combined into one, says Schirripa. “Instead of three projects over four or five, six years, maybe more … we were able to bundle them together into one project over three (and) get them done.”
But there is one more year to go: “We will finish rebuilding southbound I-69 (and) the remaining four ramps at the I-94 interchange … One lane open in each direction on the northbound lanes through 2023.”
