he I-73 Corridor Study is complete and the report has been accepted by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The study concludes that three possible routes for a new expressway from Toledo to Jackson are feasible. In keeping with good practice, the study duly weighs and measures an expressway against an array of less intensive alternatives, including a theoretical control measure of doing nothing. With the printing of the Final Report, the first step of a federally mandated process has been completed. We now await a decision by MDOT management sometime this spring on what version (if any) of the study’s recommendations are to be included in an environmental impact study. The environmental study may include as much as a full blown expressway and last 2–5 years or it could study only improvements to existing roads and take correspondingly less time. Public input will again be a prominent part of the new process. The MDOT website (www.mdot.state.mi.us/i-73) will continue for the near future.
