Multidisciplinary engineering and infrastructure consultancy Parsons has been selected as the lead designer for Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT’s) I-75 Segment 2 Design-Build project, a joint venture led by Walsh Construction and Toebe Construction.
MDOT’s I-75 widening and reconstruction project has been in the planning and development stages for nearly 20 years. Under the ‘Modernize 75’ banner, the three-phase project encompasses approximately 18 miles (29km) of freeway from M-102 (Eight Mile Road) to south of M-59 (South Boulevard) and has a current daily traffic volume of 103,000 to 174,000 vehicles.
The freeway was built in the 1960s but has not received comprehensive corridor improvements since that time. The need for increased capacity to relieve congestion is driven by the growth along the corridor due to land use changes and the migration of people, services and industry.
I-75 is a critical route, serving commercial, commuter, tourist and local area business traffic, moving large quantities of people and goods across the state on a daily basis.
The I-75 corridor improvements will ease traffic congestion, meet travel demand for personal mobility and movement of freight, while allowing for future traffic and commercial needs for the entire region. The upgraded route is also being designed to improve motorist safety, reliability and efficiency.
The project will add Michigan’s first High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes and reconstruct existing freeway lanes on 8.5 miles (13.7km) of roadway in Oakland County. Segment 2 includes replacement/rehabilitation of 18 structures, drainage improvements, noise wall construction, traffic signal upgrades, and community-developed aesthetic improvements. Construction work on the Design-Build (DB) Segment 2 phase of the project will begin this autumn.
Parsons will provide design services for the modernization and expansion of I-75 as part of the project. The company will also be responsible for the design and integration of new intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to enhance and expand MDOT’s existing capabilities for traffic incident detection and emergency response management, traveler information systems, queue detection, curve speed warning systems and connected vehicle systems.
The ITS will be integrated with the Southeast Michigan Transportation Operations Center’s MDOT statewide advanced transportation management system (ATMS) software.
“Our technical design will incorporate diverging diamond interchanges at 14 Mile Road and Big Beaver Road,” said Mike Johnson, Parsons Group president. “These innovative interchange types will improve mobility and maximize safety through this busy corridor.”
