Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

MDOT has scheduled intermittent freeway and ramp closures at I-96 and Grand River in Brighton, for the early morning hours of Friday, May 2nd for utility work.

Eastbound and westbound I-96 will be closed with police assistance for 15 minutes at a time between the hours of 12:00 am and 6:00 am.

The eastbound I-96 on and off ramps at Grand River Avenue will have similar 15 minute closures with police assistance.

A traffic shift along Grand River Avenue also is scheduled Saturday, in preparation for a bridge demolition next week.

Two lanes of traffic will be maintained on eastbound Grand River Ave and one lane on westbound Grand River Avenue. The eastbound I-96 on and off ramps and the westbound I-96 off ramp will remain open.

Beginning next Thursday night, May 8, through early morning Sunday, May 11, both directions of Grand River will be closed nightly beneath I-96, so crews can demolish the westbound 96 bridge.

"Thursday night, back open Friday morning. Then again Friday night, back open. Then again Saturday night. It will only be at night, when it's going to be the least impactful to the public and traffic. Then those will get opened back up," MDOT's George Seif told WHMI News.

All of this is in preparation for a 50-day closure of Grand River at I-96 beginning in mid-June. At that time, eastbound Grand River traffic will be detoured down Hilton to Old U.S. 23 to Spencer and back to downtown Brighton.

Westbound Grand River traffic will be detoured on eastbound I-96 to Spencer, to Old U.S. 23, to Hilton.

However, access to downtown Brighton will remain for traffic coming off of I-96 to Grand River.

The good news, says Seif, is the configuration along I-96 won't change. He said both the Grand River 50-day closure and Chilson Road bridge replacement are scheduled to wrap up in August.

Photo courtesy of MDOT's I-96 Brighton Project Facebook page, linked below.