Free Republic

A mysterious greenish liquid that forced lane closures after it seeped onto a Michigan interstate Friday allegedly came from a closed electroplating business whose owner is currently serving a year in federal prison for operating an unlicensed hazardous waste storage facility. Federal agencies had been called to investigate the strange oozing liquid pouring onto I-696 in Madison Heights — a suburb of Detroit — which they found to be the chemical hexavalent chromium, Michigan State Police said on Twitter on Saturday. […] The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) said in a statement that crews had spent...

By this point in the Interstate 696 rebuild project, state transportation officials had envisioned drivers headed eastbound would have been shifted to new concrete paved on the westbound side. That hasn't happened -- yet. A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation said Thursday the changeover likely will take place the week of August 20. "Early plans did expect the traffic shift to be in late July, but it's up to the contractor to organize his work crew and locations," Diane Cross of MDOT's communications staff said in an email. "As long as he meets the contract reopening date in...

When state construction crews begin work on westbound Interstate 696 in Roseville this spring, they’ll have to knock off the noise at some point in the night. The Roseville City Council recently rejected a request by the Michigan Department of Transportation to work 24 hours a day, seven days week on the $90 million project. “We are worried about the peace and quiet of our residents who live near the freeway as they are trying to get to sleep at night,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jan Haggerty. MDOT plans to shut down the entire span of westbound I-696 from Interstate...