Hartland Township officials have authorized the final details of a plan from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to improve a stretch of M-59 with the addition of a center turn lane.

MDOT is planning left turn lane construction along M-59 from Cullen Road to just east of Hartland Drive. However, the Department will also build a 700-foot pathway on the south side of M-59 that will link the existing sidewalk from west of Hartland Woods Drive to the Oakbrooke property.

The proposed sidewalk has been included in the 2020 M-59 road project and will be constructed at no cost to the Township. At a recent meeting of the Township’s Board of Trustees, officials discussed a resolution that would authorize a contract with MDOT. The agreement specifies that the municipality will assume all ownership, responsibility and liability for the sidewalk upon the project’s completion by MDOT. The municipality’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

Township Manager James Wickman previously told WHMI that MDOT will be carrying out safety improvements along M-59 and that it is usually the Department’s practice when they’re doing a project to search for other ways to add extra benefit to the community. Wickman says in this case, M-59 had an empty gap of sidewalks in Hartland Township and MDOT proposed including that in the project as an add-on. He says that the M-59 pathway project is focused on a stretch between Cullen Road and the Hartland Educational Support Services Center, which is the location of Hartland’s old high school.

MDOT wants to improve the section of roadway that includes a passing lane on the westbound side with the implementation of a center turn lane. Wickman says a number of left turns are made westbound to the south side of M-59 and that drivers trying to pass on the right have led to some unfavorable accident numbers, prompting the improvement work. (DK)