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112 construction projects revealed for 2019 in Wayne County

Published  April 30, 2019 5:27pm EDT
News
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. (FOX 2) - More than $85 million worth of construction projects will soon kick off on aging infrastructure in Wayne County. 

Wayne County Executive Warren Evans announced the upcoming projects Tuesday, which will be 112 projects in total. 

"Parks help to make viable neighborhoods, viable neighborhoods help to attract business. Business helps attract capital, life gets better," he said.

That number breaks down to an estimated 30 road construction projects; 10 bridge projects; 59 heavy roa dmaintenance projects; and 13 park improvement projects. Crews will be out in a number of different communities, from Trenton to Dearborn to Detroit. 

Evans is working with lawmakers in Lansing as well as the federal government right now to get more money to fix the aging infrastructure. 

"Economic development is growing, things are getting better. Economic development is influenced by the conditions of our roads. These things don't occur in a vaccuum/ If we don't have passable, usable roads - if we don't do something about the conditions of our roads - we're going to start losing capital investments throughout the town and in a number of areas. 

"It's not a game or a one-off situation. It's the reality that we have to do much more than we're doing now," he said at a press conference Tuesday morning. 

The road construction projects are targeting about 170 miles worth of streets around the county. 

Crews will begin work in May and will remain working through October. 

"When you look at our road construction projects -- 59, when you look at our heavy maintanance reconstruction projects --30, when you look are our bridges that are closed or we're doing rehab on -- 10 and then when you look at all the workforce behind you combine that in our fleet, you're looking at $87 million this season and we're proud," said Beverly Watts, director of the Department of Public Services.

Potholes, road issues and other problems can also be reported on the Wayne County Connect app in the meantime.