The Research Administration at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) recently published a document with the agency’s latest research concerning post-tensioning cables and pre-stressing strands within concrete structures. Read More »

MDOT recently chose ITS technologies for its research spotlight because the technologies are able to decrease crashes, traffic delays and emissions while still making notable returns with investments. The project, entitled "Costs and Benefits of MDOT Intelligent Transportation System Deployments," began in June 2013 and ended in July 2015. The cost of the project is $235,933. Read More »

MDOT will test GPS trackers on a set of snowplows during this winter season. The Southwest region maintenance crew, which consists of about 80 plow trucks, will be equipped with GPS technology that will enable people to view where the trucks are on the Mi Drive website. The Southwest region includes the plow trucks in Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties. Read More »

The MDOT requested public feedback for the draft of its 2016-2020 Five-Year Transportation Program Friday. MDOT officials will soon give the draft to the State Transportation Commission for final approval, which will last until January. The draft is available on MDOT’s website. It includes all of the projects, their locations, descriptions and the planned years for implementation. Read More »

MDOT appointed Erick Kind as its engineer for Grand Region Thursday. Kind’s new role makes him the top administrator for the area. He will oversee approximately 1,400 miles of trunkline throughout 13 west Michigan counties. He will also supervise 187 employees, a yearly maintenance budget amounting to $36 million and a capital program amounting to $80 million. Read More »

MDOT officials opened the Main Street M-139 bridge Wednesday located in Niles, Mich. The new bridge crosses the St. Joseph River. This bridge is meant to help the community maintain its historic aesthetics. Crews and officials gathered input from the local community to guarantee that the new bridge would serve residents and visitors while maintaining historical value. Read More »

Leaders from the Michigan Department of Transportation published a new research report. The report is entitled “Research on Evaluation and Standardization of Accelerated Bridge Construction Techniques." There is now a full listing of research reports that MDOT has published between 1940 and 2015 available on the MDOT website. All of the reports are online in the form of PDFs. Read More »

A railroad crossing in Breitung Township in Dickinson County will now be signed as “exempt,” allowing trucks and buses that typically stop at the crossing to continue across the railroad tracks. The review of the Wisconsin Central (WC) crossing was completed by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Third Street runs along US-141, just east of the highway. Read More »

Lear Corporation recently acquired Arada Systems. Arada Systems is an automotive technology company located in Troy, Michigan. Its specialty is communications from Vehicle-to-Vehicle as well as Vehicle-to-Infrastructure. The acquired software as well as hardware solutions will allow Lear to conduct short range communications, such as wireless communications protocols as well as GPS. Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation is on a mission to preserve and maintain all of the state’s movable bridges, MDOT Bridge Management Engineer Rebecca Curtis said. With 12 movable bridges in MDOT’s current inventory, Curtis said the state’s movable bridges are unique not only from an engineering standpoint, “but also in that they represent large capital investments.”  Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation successfully slid the M-100 bridge in Potterville into place Nov. 14. The purpose of a bridge slide is to cause less havoc on traffic during the weeks before construction. Bridge slides need only a single closure to complete, rather than a week of bad traffic. Current bridge replacement takes several months of detours and lane closures. Read More »

MDOT recently reopened southbound Interstate 75 as part of its successful expansion of the interstate. The road, which was closed from Hess Road to Dixie Highway, reopened Monday. The purpose was to prepare this segment of the road for the I-75 expansion between Hess Road to Dixie Highway. This is the first part of the two-year, $45 million project to expand the interstate. Read More »

Crews with the Michigan Department of Transportation recently reopened the Sprinkle Road Interstate 94 ramps in Kalamazoo. This $15.5 million project that began in March includes two roundabouts and a new bridge that  I-94. With traffic moving slowly from various connecting roads, there will be fewer potential accidents at this intersection. Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation was awarded the National Roadway Award Monday for its rumble strip initiative that is designed to reduce crashes. After MDOT analyzed crash data between 2004 and 2007, they found that lane departure was about 50 percent of the state’s fatal crashes. Solving this problem meant launching a statewide initiative to add rumble strips to roads. Read More »

Amtrak will add more trains to the typical schedule in order to meet the increased travel demands of holiday travelers throughout the Midwest region of the United States. The week of Thanksgiving is the busiest week of travel in the year. In 2014, Amtrak transported 772,211 passengers for the holiday. Since experts anticipate similar numbers for this year’s holiday. Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has announced that M-100 will be closed this coming weekend in Potterville. The closure will start today at 7 p.m. so that crews can begin an innovative construction technique: a bridge slide. The roadway will be reopened to traffic again on November 17 by 6 a.m. The detour route will use Lansing Road, Windsor Highway, and M-100. Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation has scheduled an informational public meeting on Nov. 24 to discuss an upgrade project for the U.S. 31 bascule bridge in Charlevoix in northern Michigan. The project, scheduled to start in late 2016, will involve painting the bridge's steel superstructure, repairing mechanical and electrical systems and improving bridge approaches. Read More »

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the city of Auburn Hills opened the new University Drive and Interstate 75 interchange in Auburn Hills on Tuesday. The new diverging diamond interchange (DDI) enables better safety for drivers who are entering or exiting the freeway. DDI erases conflict points, like left turns, and improves the safety of pedestrians. Read More »

Automotive News released a special issue Monday celebrating its 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry and praising their accomplishments. The leading women come from 14 automotive disciplines. They range from designers to manufacturers to dealer principals to engineers. These women make formidable decisions and have a significant impact on their companies. Read More »

Michigan Department Transportation crews finished pavement reconstruction on the Interstate 75 Business Loop (BL) in St. Ignace and repair work on the Castle Rock overpass, ending traffic restrictions in the section. The project repaired the railing, deck and substructure of the bridge and replaced the ramp aprons, pavement, gutters, guardrails and curbs on I-75. Read More »