Orchard Lake Rd. resurfacing set for summer start

At its Feb. 7 annual meeting, the Oakland County Federal Aid Task Force Funding Committee agreed to move up by one year the resurfacing of Orchard Lake Road between 13 Mile and 14 Mile roads in Farmington Hills.

The Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) will now be able to implement the project this year.

“This project has been a high priority for the Road Commission for some time,” said RCOC Board Chairman Eric Wilson. “We are very pleased that funding became available, and we were able to move the project forward.”

The project is the final step in the resurfacing of Orchard Lake Road between 12 Mile and Lone Pine roads.

Because one project previously scheduled to be constructed in 2012 has been moved back to 2013, the funding that was earmarked for that project became available for other projects. The task force’s funding committee agreed to split the newly available money between the RCOC’s Orchard Lake Road resurfacing project and the city of Novi’s proposed resurfacing of 9 Mile Road between Beck and Taft roads.

The Orchard Lake Road project is pegged at approximately $1.2 million, with just over $830,000 covered by federal funds. The remainder of the cost will be shared by the RCOC and the city of Farmington Hills.

The project will involve base repair and asphalt resurfacing. The project is expected to begin this summer and be completed in the fall.

The 14-member funding committee includes 10 representatives of Oakland County’s cities, villages and townships, as well as two representatives of the RCOC, one representative from the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), and one from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). It typically meets every February to identify the road projects that will receive the available federal road funds in future years.