It hasn't been a great summer for I-75, with flooding and a massive tanker fire complicating travel on the vital north-south artery. Now, a sinkhole has opened in Madison Heights, closing the northbound lanes through Wednesday.
Workers repair a sinkhole on I-75 in Madison Heights. (Photo: Fox 2 video)
Road crews mining for a drainage tunnel about 100 feet beneath the surface came across some unexpected groundwater at the northbound service drive near Eleven ½ Mile Road. The operation affected the pavement above as sand and silt collapsed on itself.
It has led to road closures between I-696 and Twelve Mile Road. That section of I-75 has already been marked by traffic barrels the last few years as part of a multi-hundred-million-dollar road project to improve I-75.
The northbound I-75 service drive will remain closed from Lincoln to Gardenia avenues. Currently, there is not an estimate on when that section of the service drive will reopen.
When the road does reopen, it will probably only be one lane, and reopening itself "is not a given," an MDOT spokesman said.
