Portion Of I-94 Damaged By Tanker Explosion In Dearborn Opens Early
DEARBORN (WWJ) -- M-DOT has confirmed that a portion of I-94 eastbound will reopen much earlier than expected -- 36 hours earlier to be exact.
Spokesperson Diane Cross said that eastbound I-94 between the Southfield Freeway (M-39) and The Lodge (M-10) was declared drivable just after 6 p.m. on Saturday after a tanker explosion damaged the roadway on Wednesday.
"Because of our crews working around the clock and -- cross your fingers -- we've had some good weather and that warmth has helped our concrete cure a little earlier than expected," Cross told WWJ Newsradio 950's Lauren Barthold. "So drivers heading east on 94 you can keep on going until you get to M-10, The Lodge."
I-94 between M-10 and I-75 will remain closed due to the M-1 Rail construction and will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday. Cross explained the reopening process.
"They can't get all of the on ramps open at the same time, the crews have to go from ramp to ramp," Cross said. "First they'll open M-39 so that everybody can stay on the freeway, then they have to make their way to Oakwood, then they'll go further east to Schaefer and up to Michigan."
Skip Powelson with Poco Incorporated — one of the crews that worked on the repair — spoke with WWJ Newsradio 950's Jon Hewett on Friday about what goes into the repair effort.
"The roadway was so bad that if they let traffic flow — the kind of traffic the runs on 94 — it would have torn that road up, it would have fallen apart, so they had to fix it, close it," Powelson said.