Temporary road approved for Mill Road project reduces closure of east-west artery

MADISON – The Madison City Council approved a change order last week for a temporary road to go into Mill Road while the city works on its road stabilization and drainage improvements project in the area.

Previously, the city announced that Mill Road would be closed for a whole year while the project is underway. The announcement that was made on social media received backlash from the public for the extended length of closure of the thoroughfare for east and west traffic in the city.

Now, the plan is to construct a temporary road that city engineer, Michael Johnson, says will reduce time of closure from a year to three months.

“It’s going to reduce the amount of time that the road has to be closed, but not make it zero. There’s going to be some closure time for when they have to tie this road into Mill and then take it out,” said Johnson. “So, we’re going from where it was going to be a maximum of a year closure down to maximum of three months with the possibility of making it much less.”

The temporary road will start near Balch Road and extend toward the east. Work is also going on on the nearby Browns Ferry Road, but Johnson assured that Browns Ferry and Mill will not be closed at the same time.

“It’s going to be close to the same time, but the two roads shouldn’t be closed at the same time,” he said. “They won’t close Mill Road in the first phases of this.”

Work on Browns Ferry Road is expected to end in mid-February, and the first work on Mill Road is expected to begin in early February at the latest.