DUNDEE, Mich. — On Aug. 20, a truck hauling construction equipment ripped apart the two main girders of a bridge on US-23 north near Monroe, Mich.
Last week, the bridge was evaluated, the road was closed and traffic diverted at the Dundee exit.
Now, residents say the new traffic pattern is causing massive congestion, creating bumper-to-bumper traffic in cities that aren't equipped to handle it.
"Us people on the dirt roads, as well as people on the paved roads, are just overloaded with hundreds and hundreds of cars that we're not used to having," Aretta Shils said.
She's a Milan-area resident who lives on a dirt road parallel to US-23. She says the increase in traffic has had a negative impact on the local area.
"Our school buses are having a hard time, somebody's dog has already gotten killed, we've had several fender benders and it's just chaos around here," Shils said.
Aaron Jenkins with MDOT says he understands people's frustration with the road closure, but it's being done to avoid injury or death on the highway.
"You have to understand that your safety is paramount to us. We don't want anything to happen to you, that's why we have this detour now," Jenkins said.
While work hasn't begun on it yet, Jenkins says we should begin to see change very soon.
"We're moving forward with our emergency contract process for the repairs, we hope to award the contract here at the beginning of next week, with materials procurement and construction to begin as well."
However, even with construction beginning soon, Jenkins says there is currently no end date in sight.
In response, Shils stated, "Get things fixed and get them fixed now so things can get back to normal."