MDOT Says Portage Rd I-94 Interchange Opens Early August
Since late 2020 and early 2021, residents of the Milwood Neighborhood and surrounding areas in Kalamazoo and Portage have been affected at a high rate due to the construction of Portage Road and I-94. The pandemic, supply chain shortages, and other issues have prolonged what was supposed to be only a few months into a few years.
After almost two years of work to create a better flow of traffic at the Portage Road and Kilgore Road exit off of 1-94 there has been a new opening date set for the interchange. Although, many residents and myself believe that this should be tentative due to how many times the end date has been changed.
The newest opening date for this stretch of I-94 which is also saying good riddance to the Michigan Left that existed at the intersection of Kilgore Road and Portage Road is set for early August. Drivers will once again be able to use all on and off-ramps and have normal flowing two-way traffic in all directions.
The hesitancy in accepting this date comes from the opening date being moved multiple times. When the project was originally brought to the table there was a budget set of $87 million and this project has not exceeded that amount and will not exceed that amount, but it was slated to be finished in November of 2022.
After this date drew closer and MDOT come out stating that due to many of the issues that were mentioned above that the project wouldn't be finished and that we should expect something in early summer(May/June) for a project finish date. Well, here we are and May is a few weeks away and we aren't quite finished yet.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this date gets pushed back again but hopefully, we'll be up and running better than before come August.