MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Major construction has started near the intersection of Okemos and Jolly Road.

The purpose of the road construction near the intersection of Okemos and Jolly Roads is to accommodate growing traffic in the area by adding right turn lanes from eastbound Jolly to southbound Okemos, from northbound Okemos to eastbound Jolly and from southbound Okemos to westbound Jolly.

The project is also going to replace some aging pavement, as well as replace a storm sewer under the westbound lanes on the north side of Jolly Road and west side of Okemos Road. 

Currently, traffic has been reduced to single lanes going through the intersection, which may cause some frustration for residents. Bill Conklin Managing Director of the Ingham County Road Department has some advice on the matter:

"My advice for getting through the area will be is if you need to approach the location from Meridian Township, which is where most of your viewers are, to get over to Okemos Road and not wait to come down to Jolly Road to turn onto Okemos Road to get on the freeway. They should observe the detour signage that is north of the intersection and use either Kinawa or Bennett or Mount Hope Road or Grand River or what have you. Use those mile roads to come onto Okemos Road north of Jolly Road and come down Okemos Road because we are finding that with the tweaking of the traffic signal timing out there that we're going to need to put most of the "green time" on Okemos Road, and that is because we got two freeway off ramps there from I-96 just  south of Jolly, and people coming north from the rest of Ingham County and to the area on Okemos Road, and we need to put more "green time" to clear those free way ramps out, and that's going to make more "red time" on Jolly Road."

The project is expected to last through most of the summer, so keep checking back to HOMTV for future updates on this project's progress.