Due to challenges faced by a utility company, the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) now expects to re-open Orion Road at Dutton Road on the Rochester Hills/Oakland Township border late in the week of Aug. 11 following emergency repairs to the road after part of the road was washed away in flooding July 16.
RCOC previously expected to be able to open the road this week (week of Aug. 4), when it completed repairs to the road. And while the road repairs are still expected to be finished this week, Consumers Energy has run into challenges repairing its service that was damaged in the flooding, and the road cannot be safely opened until that work is done. The Consumers work is expected to continue into next week.
RCOC has already repaired a culvert under the road and backfilled the area washed away by the flooding, and a contractor is expected to repave the washed-out section this week. After that is done, new guardrail will be installed, and pavement markings will be placed on the new pavement.
The additional Consumers work is expected to start Aug. 11 and take approximately three days to complete. RCOC does not control the scheduling of utility company work and will re-open the road as soon as the utility work is completed.
The road was damaged after torrential rainfall on July 16 caused serious flooding at the road (more than five inches of rain was reported in approximately a one-hour period at that location – far more than in most of the rest of the region). The flooding washed away much of the earth adjacent to the road, causing a portion of the road to collapse and exposing and damaging multiple utility services next to the road, including a water line, a gas line and a fiberoptics line. The water line and fiber optic line have been repaired.
Additionally, RCOC is continuing to work with the Michigan Department of Energy, Great Lakes and the Environment (EGLE) to conduct a longer-term study to determine if any further changes are necessary in the future.
The posted detour route for Orion Road traffic remains Rochester Road to Tienken Road to Adams Road, back to Orion Road and vice versa. This segment of Orion Road carries 8,470 vehicles daily.
