Game Day Road Construction/Closures
For those coming to the game from out of town, there are a number of construction projects to be aware of and perhaps budget extra travel time for:
- East Stadium Blvd. is reduced to one lane in each direction east of the U-M Golf Course (because of the sorry state of the two bridges there)
- West Stadium Blvd. essentially between Seventh Ave. and Pauline is reduced to one lane westbound only (meaning, just to clarify this, that you cannot go eastbound through this stretch); also, Seventh Ave. is currently closed at West Stadium, but that may reopen by Saturday
- Fifth Ave. is closed between Liberty and William
The West Stadium construction is supposed to be completed in November and so may be finished before the end of football season. The other two will be season-long hassles. (Fifth Ave. is supposed to remain closed until early fall 2011.)
Annarbor.com has an article about these projects with several links. See: Ongoing construction projects could pose problems for football season traffic
The article includes a link to a helpful Google map. Here's a direct link: Construction map
There was another construction project on Plymouth Rd. around Green. Does anyone know if that project's been completed? I'm not on that side of town, and the city's website doesn't say.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:41 AM ^
thanks
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
I was on Plymouth yesterday, it was one lane going into town.
Edit: suppose where would be good. From the road going through north campus to Barton.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
"Road going through north campus" = Murfin?
That must be a different project. Have you been on Plymouth further east? They were resurfacing it from Nixon to US-23. An annarbor.com article from a while back (see this article) said it would be completed by Sept. 3, so maybe it was finished early.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:43 AM ^
Plymouth between US-23 and Barton Rd is one lane each way for most of that stretch. If rush hour is any indication, that is one of the most jammed up stretch of roads. I would highly recommend avoiding that if possible. It is made more difficult because there is also construction at US-23 and Geddes. I think that project is mostly done, but as of last check (which was a month ago) you can not get on US-23 South from Geddes and there are only certain ways that you can turn when you get off US-23 at Geddes. So I would suggest avoiding that also if that project is still underway.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:39 PM ^
And it's twisty, 25 miles an hour, and you need to make Michigan turns across Huron Parkway.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:39 PM ^
Been hauling out to Arbor Lakes this week.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
...be front paged.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
If you have to drive through Kalamazoo the west bound bridge over Westnege ave is being put up saturday morning I-94 is going to be a parking lot, (lucky for me I live in kalamazoo and will be taking back roads out of town to A2.) If I was coming from the west like Chicago I would take back roads from the paw paw exit and get back on I-94 on the sprinkle rd exit. I can give you street names if you need it.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
the street names for your recommended bypass.
A few times last year the delays on game day were in the .75 to 2 hour range (returning to Chicago) just east of the Firekeepers casino.
If I miss Brock coming out of the tunnel (or Denard taking it to the house from our own 25 yardline) because of road construction, I am going to have to be put in a straightjacket.
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^
First get off at the Paw Paw exit, go north to Red Arrow Highway, turn right so you are headed east on red arrow, turn on to north main st heading south (right hand turn) towards mattawan, go through mattawan till you get to 60th ave (also called robinson rd) (turn left onto 60th) you should be heading east, 60th will turn into west q, west q turns into centre ave just stay on this road till you reach sprinkle rd then turn left you should be heading north, sprinkle rd will cross over I-94 get on I-94 and head east. This will take you past all the traffic and construction thru Kalamazoo.
The last time they put some of the bridge up it was about two hours just to get from paw paw to the east side of kalamazoo (it is a ten minute drive normally) so this will save you a bunch of time.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
the Michigan faithful coming in from the West.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
Coming from Benton Harbor Saturday so I'll take the back roads. I've had to do that before but it sure makes it easier knowing that ahead of time. How long until that Westnedge stuff is done? Seems like it's been going on for years.
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
Not going to be done till next fall, it really sucks just trying to get around town but it will be nice when it is done.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 AM ^
I heard that people might not be able to park at the Pioneer lot this year because of construction on the parking lot. Any truth to this? I'll be over for a game later this month and that is where I've parked for many years now.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^
No. It's open. Here are details from the annarbor.com article:
And recent construction at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School won’t halt game day parking there.
Liz Margolis, spokeswoman for Ann Arbor Public Schools, said parking will be available at the high school this year, despite work done on its grounds.
General parking at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School will cost $35 per vehicle and is provided through University of Michigan event parking. And as in years past, the school will accommodate as many as 5,000 vehicles.
“We usually fill it every game,” she said. “We did plan this construction schedule so the ground would be firm enough, and the grass would be developed enough that we could park over those areas.”
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^
Raoul if I could giuve you more than +1 I would. Thanks!
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
Glad some people are finding this thread useful.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^
Plymouth Road, immediately west of US-23, is horrible. I live near there and it's been driving me nuts all summer. Traffic is backed up at any time of day. Do not take the exit (41) off US-23. If you're taking M-14, just keep going to downtown Ann Arbor - or else take the 23 interchange but keep going down to Geddes or Washtenaw.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:38 PM ^
I guess it depends on where you're parking, but if you continue going south on 23, it sounds like Geddes should be avoided because of construction. Washtenaw is likely to be even more of a nightmare than it usually is, so I guess if I had to direct someone, I'd suggest they just go down to I-94 and take it west to Ann Arbor-Saline.
On your suggestion for staying on M-14, I might recommend that people not try to cut through downtown given that Fifth Ave. is closed. An alternative is to continue on M-14 to Maple, take that south to either Jackson or Liberty, turn left on one of those streets and then turn right on Seventh Ave. This might be a good route to take to the Pioneer lot, particularly if they reopen the Seventh-Stadium intersection by Saturday.
If anyone has other suggestions for getting around these construction areas, please post them here.
At least the U-Conn game is at 3:30, which should spread the traffic out over a longer period than a 12:00 start would.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^
You could still go downtown. I like to park in the garage on Thompson and William, and I can still get there now - I just have to turn left on Liberty a block before. Granted, I haven't tried it on a football Saturday. This weekend will probably be a mess. There are just too many construction projects going on at once.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^
Around the intersection with Miller. Slowed things down getting off of M-14 at exit 3. May be wrapped up by tomorrow, but I wouldn't count on it.
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:36 PM ^
To clarify, jmblue, I didn't mean people shouldn't go downtown or can't get into downtown. I was just saying that with Fifth Ave. closed it doesn't make a lot of sense to try to cut through downtown to get to the Stadium area.
When Fifth Ave. was first closed about a month ago, I got a laugh when Main St. was suggested as an alternate. I always assume that anyone driving down that often-gridlocked street must be from out of town.