  Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 331 Registered: 09-2004 |
So what's the deal? I took a drive all the way down Fort St today from Campus Martius to Outer Drive. Fort Street was repaved maybe two years ago from Rosa Parks to Clark, in really thick concrete atop a new roadbed. I watched the construction ongoing that year, weaving between the beat-up MDOT cones and barrels, and dealing with the semis running everything over. When the road was done, I watched them tear up every drain and manhole cover and relay the concrete around them as the semis cracked every single one. My trip today was terrible. That section of road is a mess! Concrete crumbling everywhere, lousy unsmooth asphalt patches and patch jobs, and the cement around the manholes is breaking up - again! I realize that the right lane from the Bridge to Clark going south sees nothing but trucks day, night, and all times in between. But seriously. Seems like it should have lasted slightly longer than just two years. A botched construction job? After just two years if it's this bad, it'll be worse than how it was before the new road was laid in only 10. Not good. On a brighter note, the new asphalt from Clark to the Rouge Bridge looks and rides great! They even painted the lines down (instead of that reflective tape), so the stripes won't peel away during the first snow. I also spotted three classic in-service 1916-style streetlights on Fort just north of where I-75 crosses over at the start of the Rouge bridge that had been repainted a bright silver. Not sure if the property owner did that or not, but it looks great! Now, if they could just fix the rest of the old 1916 lights down there. Or better still, replace them all with new ones and refurbish the old ones and put them downtown. I know they're installing new remakes of of late 1800s Bishop style streetlights on Woodward and Michigan Ave (Wyoming-Livernois and Tiger Stadium area) and a few other places, but the 1916 style with their unique pineapples are historic for our region too and some should be preserved. It's a little thing, but I think we'll all agree that from a completely aesthetic standpoint, the pineapple/fluted types look much better than the modern pole types with new lamps and probably with a broken boot at the base! Lastly, hey city signage dept, can we get a sign that says "Fort Street =>" in front of 1 Kennedy Square where is splits off from the Campus Martius Circle at the SW corner of the park? There's no sign there - now that it's finally open, we need a sign! | ||
Scs100 Member Username: Scs100 Post Number: 8 Registered: 12-2006 |
Maybe we get one when everyone moves into the building? | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 847 Registered: 12-2005 |
I worked at the building at the corner (SW) of Fort and 12th for a number of years. In '01,'02 MDOT tore up Fort down to the dirt and repaved the whole thing, they had to. There were ruts in the pavement from Semis that were very deep, perhaps 8"-10" from the high spots to the low. You could feel your car "fall into the tracks" (sort of) if you were riding on the upper ridges before your car steered itself down into the ruts. A whole lotta truck traffic, all going from the bridge to the freeways up 12th (RPB). Michigan allows some of the heaviest trucks in the nation, I'm not sure about Canada. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1471 Registered: 11-2003 |
I don't think you have to go all the way to Outer Drive to see shoddy pavement on Fort Street. The area just West of Woodward in front of the (now closed) Detroit Camera in the Penobscot Building and the Dime Building is hardly anything to write home about. Talk about rough pavement. | ||
Supersport Member Username: Supersport Post Number: 11044 Registered: 10-2003 |
Funny, I was just thinking the other day how nice Fort Street is now that it's all been repaved. Guess I didn't pay attention to the quality of work. | ||
Itsjeff Member Username: Itsjeff Post Number: 7269 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroit Camera is still open. Just in a different location in the Penobscot Building. Back on topic, it's only been a year since they finished the roads and they're starting to look worn already. Kym should fire up a grand jury. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 171 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well if it was an MDOT shoddy const. job, let MDOT take care of it. They seem to be pretty able to go after the const. companies that are responsible. Doesn't sound like much blame is to fall with the city of detroit. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 610 Registered: 04-2006 |
The Bridge over the rouge still needs to be re-built. This will require some reworking of the intersection. Strangely, when they paved the elalvated section of Fort Street, they did not replace the bridges on that section. Those bridges are scheduled to be rebuilt next year. Fort Street by Penobscot is no longer a state trunkline. Talk to the city if you want it paved between Cass and Woodard. | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 334 Registered: 09-2004 |
Detroitplanner - couple questions for you. In your second paragraph above, are you referring to the bridge over the far east end of the Norfolk Southern Yard between the Rouge Drawbridge and the I-75 overpass south of the Rouge? A second question - Is Fort St. where it is a state trunkline considered to be M-3 or M-85? I have seen many signs for both intermixed in the stretch through the City from almost Campus Martius down through the Rouge bridge. At one point, I thought I spotted an old US-25 sign, but it was just an old US-10 re route sign. How many decades have passed since US-10 was a route in the city of Detroit? lol More than three! | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 620 Registered: 04-2006 |
It is M-85. I am referring to the elevated part of Fort, from the Drawbridge S to Schaefer. Talk to MDOT's sign shop about those old signs. Maybe you should just take them down and keep them as collectors. No sense in having stuff signed wrong, I doubt they could press charges. The Schaefer to Clark segment will most likely get rebuilt in 2008. http://webdev2.semcog.org/cgi- bin/data/subs/att-tip-sub.cfm? tipno=2000807 http://webdev2.semcog.org/cgi- bin/data/subs/att-tip-sub.cfm? tipno=2000748 | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 815 Registered: 11-2003 |
Busterwmu-- US-10 was decertified south of the Bay City I-75 interchange in 1987. It entered Detroit on the Lodge (previously Woodward). | ||
Busterwmu Member Username: Busterwmu Post Number: 342 Registered: 09-2004 |
Thanks for the precise date Burnsie. So the signs are only two decades old instead of three  |
