DIANA LIEBERMAN StaffWriter
KRISTA HUSA Photographer

Trees, hea vy
:...Tt696 parks will force

rebuilding and
highway closures.

t has been a quiet 10 years for the Orthodox
Jewish community living along 1-696 in
Southfield and Oak Park — as quiet as pos-
sible for a community that's been sliced
through by a six-to-eight-lane freeway.
But starting sometime in late fall, the free-
way and nearby streets in both communities
will once again be disturbed by the sounds of
earth movers and construction equipment, as
the three bridge decks that span the highway
undergo major repair.
Drivers will see closure of the entire freeway, occasionally,
for from six to seven months.
between 8 p.m. and 5
However, community members still will be able to use the
decks to walk from one side of the freeway to the other.
The repairs are necessary because of stress damage to the
concrete support beams caused by the dense soil and large
evergreens on the deck parks.
The decks in Oak Park are Rothstein Park, located north
of the Jimmy Prentis Morris Building of the Jewish
Community Center, and the nearby Victoria Park, north of
the Sally Alan Alexander Beth Jacob School for Girls. In
Southfield, Freeway Park is off Fairfax Road, south of
Lincoln and west of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah.
Repairs to the decks should be completed by April or May
According to Michigan Department of Transportation
Metro Region Engineer Ernie Savas, the damage to the sup-
port beams took place soon after they were installed. The
horizontal concrete box beams developed stress cracks,
caused by the weight of the soil and trees on the deck parks.
MDOT has monitored the cracks for the past decade, Savas
said, and they have not grown larger in that time.
"There have been incidents where people who were
caught in traffic jams looked up, saw the cracks, and called
us to make sure it was safe," he said.
Savas added that there is no danger to the thousands of
people who use the deck roads and parks, or who drive
under them each day.
"It's definitely not unsafe now," Savas said, "but we decid-
ed to be proactive and replace those beams before something
),
•
catastrophic happens.
The bridge decks, which cost nearly $4 million to install,
will cost another $5-6 million to repair, he said.
The entire highway will be closed temporarily whenever
the beams are being removed or installed. This will be done
on weekends or in off-peak hours; traffic will be detoured to
1-75 or Eight Mile Road, not along 10 Mile.
In addition, individual lanes of I-696, in either direction,
may be closed so the contractors can store equipment.
It's up to the contractors to decide exactly when the high-
way will be closed, Savas said.
"We let the contract, and we tell them what has to be
done," he said. "We don't tell them how many people to
hire, how many beams ,to remove at a time, exactly when to
close the highway.
"Hopefully, it won't be closed for several nights in a row."
Contractors will be offered financial incentives for com-
pleting the job on time, Savas said.
In all, MDOT plans to install about 100 stronger box
beams. The most serious problems are at Victoria Park,
where 60-65 beams will be replaced.
Funding will come from the Michigan Transportation
Fund, which is generated primarily through consumer gas
taxes. Local municipalities, which have been responsible for
upkeep of the parks, will not pay for the repairs.
Work on the decks will start in late October or early

DECKS ON PAGE 10

8/27
,1999

Detroit Jewish News

7