Thirteen miles of I-94 to be rebuilt over next three years

Restore 94 project focuses on 13 miles of highway the next 3 years

A 13-mile stretch of I-94 will be replaced over the next three years according to MDOT.

FOX 2 - Drivers should expect some delays traveling from the Dearborn area all the way out to Metropolitan Airport in Romulus.

Big picture view:

This freeway is going to be totally rebuilt from Michigan Avenue all the way to I-275. The goal is to have two lanes open in each direction - so four lanes in total.

Several bridges and ramps will be worked on too — with a total overhaul of the Ecorse interchange — which the residents who spoke with FOX 2 said, they are looking forward to.

Some work has already started on the ramps with survey crews out and about.

iThe reason MDOT is doing this project now, is because of the aging infrastructure of the roadway — it may cause some delays but this work needs to be done.

William Erben is the project manager for MDOT.

"This is the sole Detroit industrial freeway that was built to mobilize a military and send traffic out to Willow Run Airport," he said. "It’s an ancient freeway, particularly the western end. Some of the eastern ends near Telegraph Road are newer, but out to the west it is old and deteriorated and under many inches of asphalt.

"We worked on it before and there’s a bit of everything out there. That old pavement will be removed and new pavement will be put in."

Resident William Lambright agrees.

"It needs to be improved. I’d like to see them improve that water drainage all the way from the airport down to the Detroit River," he said.

"The big interchange at Ecorse at I-94 - that is long awaited," said Christopher Siemion, resident.

FOX 2: "Now that’s the left-hand merge?"

"It’s going to be your standard clover leaf instead of a merge into the left hand lane," he said.

FOX 2: "It sounds like everybody hates that."

"It’s lucky there hasn’t been anymore accidents there," Siemion said.

The MDOT engineers said the western portion of the project out by the airport is where the freeway is in the roughest shape.

In the past when they dug up the asphalt, there were layers and layers where previous work had just kept building on top of the broken down roadway.

For more on the Restore 94 project go HERE.