The Grosse Ile Roads Committee oversees road and bikepath conditions, and serves the Townships residents by providing recommendations for repairs and improvement. As a Township, our roads are the property of Wayne County, and as such, we rely on the County to be our primary repair and replacement source. Grosse Ile residents recognize the benefits of good roads, and they augment the County’s budget with a millage to allow us to have better roads than total dependence on County funding might provide. By maintaining a good relationship with the Roads Division of Wayne County, and by careful allocating of our millage funds, we have accomplished several improvements in cooperation with them.
In 2000, the big road news was about bridges. Church Street and Horsemill bridges over the Thorofare Canal were replaced, as was the bridge on Southpointe. Church Street’s bridge reconstruction did not go as anticipated; there is need for some corrective action on the water approaches to this bridge. Wayne County officials are aware that some changes will need to be made here, but due to the complexity of this issue, they accept responsibility to correct a design problem, but have not yet offered a solution. In 2001, the Roads Committee will keep attention on this bridge, until its problems are resolved.
The Roads Committee looks to 2001 with the anticipation that the portion of West River Road south of the Wayne County Bridge will be completed. Road Committee members are urging that engineering of West River Road north of the bridge be undertaken, so that this road also gets replaced in the next couple of years. Likewise, residents of Elba Rd. will be seeing efforts directed toward improving their road.
Our John Neidhart Memorial Bikepath system has seen several increases in its coverage of the Island, especially at its northern and southern ends. Road Committee Bikepath “Specialist” Jack Delphy has worked diligently at ensuring that any new bike paths are incorporated into a Roads Committee master plan. Roads Committee members are supportive of some additions to this already excellent network, and one important direction will be working to tie our bikepath into a network of bike paths that will allow us to travel from Erie Metro park all the way through Elizabeth Park and points north.
In order to do this, the Wayne County Bridge would have to be modified to safely accommodate bike riders. Roads Committee members are working with the Township and County to determine if this is a feasible project for the year 2004. The County Bridge is tentatively scheduled for some extensive renovations and repairs that year, so we have time to see this project through.
Many things happen due to this committee’s efforts. We welcome the public to any of our meetings: come share your ideas with us. Our normal meeting night is the first Tuesday of every month, at 7:30 PM, at the Township Hall 1st floor Conference room. Walter J. Pociask, Chair
2000-2001 Annual Report
Printed from Grosse Ile Online
http://www.grosseile.com