Thousands walk I-96 as freeway plans to open Monday

The Slomba family has waited patiently for I-96 to reopen during the past several months. In the meantime, they decided walking along the freeway in costume seemed like a good idea for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The family came dressed in various outfits, with dad Raymond coming as the left-lane inspector, mom Robyn as the "I-96 judge" donning a black robe, and daughters Veronica and Rachel coming as a dancer and a reporter, respectively.

"You only live once and it's going to be open next week," Raymond Slomba said. "They say, 'YOLO.'"

The family was one of nearly 10,000 people to traverse the freeway by foot, bicycle and skateboard Sunday during the family fun day planned by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

While the event saw massive crowds, it brought along some other welcome news for area residents: the freeway will open sometime before Monday morning's rush hour traffic, the first rush hour the freeway will see in almost six months.

MDOT director Kirk Steudle, who attended the event, said the contractor still has some work to complete before it can open, and did not have an exact time. He said the scope of the project, as well as the amount of work and detail, is one of the largest he's seen.

"When we opened up the Lodge Freeway, we did a similar one, probably four or five years ago," he said.

While Steudle has overseen several major projects, this one through Livonia and Redford was one of the more difficult ones to wrap up and do, he said.

"This is probably one of the largest projects we've done in the state, and we've done some complicated projects," he said. "This one had 50 different contractors. At one point, there was probably 2,000 workers here. The magnitude of it, in this short amount of time, this is probably one of the most impressive."

Some work to still complete

The deadline for contractor Dan's Excavating to have the freeway open was Oct. 11, though MDOT officials projected earlier this month it would most likely open by the end of September. It wasn't until this afternoon that the state said the freeway would open up even earlier.

The opening will not mean the end of work along the $148-million freeway project, however. MDOT officials say there will still be some intermittent lane closures along the route between Telegraph and Newburgh for work along the sides of the freeway. Those should be complete later this year.

The freeway fun day attracted hundreds of people early on, with many arriving well before the planned 2 p.m. ribbon cutting. Several local leaders were on hand to celebrate, including Livonia mayor Jack Kirksey, Redford Township supervisor Tracey Schultz Kobylarz and Gov. Rick Snyder, who announced to the crowd that the freeway would open early.

"We want to say 'thank you' to all the businesses and all of you who have put up with this in a very positive way over the last few months, because this was a major challenge," Snyder said. "For rush hour tomorrow morning, this is going to be open for regular traffic."

In addition to some two-wheeled vehicles, several representatives from an area group, the Redford Township Unicycle Club, brought down their one-wheeled vehicles and rode along the freeway.

Dan Visscher and his daughter, Catherine, rode a stretch of the freeway on their unicycles. Dan Visschers said he had heard the club had ridden a parade down on the freeway when it opened in the 1970s, and thought it would be fun to bring the unicycles down on the freeway, even with the rain.

Catherine, an eighth-grader at Emerson Middle School, said she knows her mother will be ecstatic to begin using the freeway again starting this week.

"My mom, she takes this way to get to work in Troy, so it's been crazy," she said. "She's always talking how she can't wait for the freeway to open."

For the Slomba family, the freeway will mean less time in the car, less spent on gas and less time waiting in traffic. Raymond Slomba will now be able to drop his children off for school and not need to take Inkster to I-94 anymore, something he can't wait for.

"With school, I'll be able to drop her off and get to work at the same time, because I drop her off and leave," he said. "When it was closed, I'd have to drop her off sooner. So little things like that."

dveselenak@hometownlife.com | 734-678-6728 Twitter: @DavidVeselenak