Here’s the latest on road repairs and other things

After a short delay in repairing potholes, work is set to resume soon.

By Charles Sercombe

Update: You may have noticed that Jos. Campau wasn’t closed off on Friday, as we reported last week. That’s because there has been a delay, said Mark Ragsdale, Hamtramck’s Director of Public Services.

It appears the Detroit Water Department needs more time in preparing traffic signs for the project, Ragsdale said.

So, repairs and the street closure will now start this Friday, June 19 at 7 p.m. and continue through the Friday after that, June 26. Once again, on June 19 Jos. Campau will be closed from Caniff to Holbrook. A water main leak is going to be fixed at Jos. Campau and Trowbridge. Read more about it below.
Prepare to be inconvenienced.
Starting this evening, Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m., Jos. Campau will be closed from Caniff to Holbrook for one week.
It’s going to take that amount of time to fix a water main break at Jos. Campau and Trowbridge and then repair the road.
The road is owned and maintained by Wayne County and the city has no say in the matter.
Mark Ragsdale, the Director of Public Services in Hamtramck, said the road repair is what will take longer. That’s because Jos. Campau has to be able to support the weight of heavy trucks, and that means special care has to be taken.
In the meantime, all side streets leading into Jos. Campau will remain open.
Truck traffic will be redirected to Conant and the I-75 Service Dr.
Jos. Campau will be reopened on Friday, June 19 at about 6 p.m., or maybe as late as 7 p.m.

On the road again … We’re not sure how pothole repairs has become the story of the year, but there it is.
In the apparently never-ending twist and turn of potholes in Hamtramck, the city now has a brand new contract to get repairs going again after state officials put a halt to it over some technicality that may or may not have been true.
Now the only hold-up is for those very same state officials — who are part of what’s called a Transition Advisory Board that overlooks all financial decisions made here in Hamtramck – to give their blessing to the new contract.
At press time Thursday we did not hear back from the city as to when those officials will meet next to OK the contract and allow repairs to move forward.
In the meantime, keep dodging those holes.
Hold off … Who doesn’t like a tree in the city and the shade it provides? Well, apparently not all trees are appreciated.
We received word from City Manager Katrina Powell that some people are planting inappropriate-sized trees in that space between the sidewalk and curb, which is technically the city’s “right of way.”
Powell said folks are planting maples and other trees that are going to become too big for that space.
Powell said the city will be asking households to remove those trees, so be prepared.
Before you plant anything in that space you’ll need to get permission from the city. For more information on this, call Mark Ragsdale, the Director of Public Services, at (313) 876-7700, extension 1.