Maple road funding for next year approved

Bloomfield Township trustees on Monday, September 14, unanimously approved utilizing the 2021-2022 tri-party funds for the paving of Maple Road between Inkster and Franklin roads, and the adjoining safety path. Tom Trice, the township’s director of public works, said that the township will only have to pay one-third, sharing the costs of the road work with the Oakland County government and Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), which will cover the other two-thirds. Trice also said that while most road projects are an even split that the township uses this tri-party funding every year. The project will include the replacement of culverts with safety enhancements as well as other minor base improvement. “This is called a cost participation agreement and we’re going to use our tri-party funding to reduce our direct costs to the general fund,” Trice said. Bloomfield Township’s portion will come out of both the 2021 and 2022 tri-party funds in order to pay for their portion of the project. The township has a total allocation of $256,075, which includes an expected $91,818 in 2021 tri-party funding and an additional $52,627 in 2022 tri-party funding. This project also includes partnership with the RCOC for the construction of a safety path along with the route, which will cost $111,630 and is a significant savings on the safety path funds due to the ability to combine it with the Maple Road project. Bloomfield Township is one of the few municipalities in the area the use the tri-party funds regularly. Over the last 15 years, thanks to those funds, the township has been able to do $9 million worth of work at one-third of the cost, Trice noted. The township has been a long-time participate in the tri-party program with Oakland County and RCOC, and in the last 10 years has used it for many projects, such as the reconstruction of Cranbrook Road, Hickory Grove Road curbing, Exeter Road and Andover Road.