With spring’s arrival comes a resurrection of roadwork in Macomb County, including the M-53 Van Dyke Freeway project.

The Michigan Department of Transportation on Monday announced the closure of the freeway between 18 Mile Road to Hall Road (M59) in Sterling Heights for the next two weekends to repair the southbound M-53 bridge over the Clinton River.

It’s the last complete closure for construction work as part of a $16 million project on M-53, which began in 2024, state officials said.

“Across Michigan, we are moving dirt and fixing the damn roads to grow our economy, helping Michiganders go to work, drop their kids off at school and run errands safely,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release.

Whitmer said by the end of this construction season, MDOT will have “fixed, repaired or replaced” almost 24,500 lane miles of roads and 1,900 bridges, all while supporting good-paying jobs “without raising taxes by a dime.”

“This year, let’s build on our momentum to pass a bipartisan local road funding plan so we can keep fixing our damn roads and creating good-paying, local jobs,” Whitmer said.

Southbound M-53 will have only one lane open on the days between the weekend closures:

• From 3-7 p.m. on Friday, May 9 only one lane will be open

• From 7 p.m. Friday, May 9 through Sunday May 11 the freeway will be closed

• From 7 p.m. Sunday, May 11 — 7 p.m. Friday, May 16, one lane will be open

• From 7 p.m. Friday, May 16 — 7 p.m. Sunday, May 18 the freeway will be closed

• From 7 p.m. Sunday, May 18 — 7 p.m. Friday, May 23, one lane will be open

In addition to resurfacing the roadway, work included repairs to concrete and guardrails, 10 budges were repaired, and the 23 Mile Road ramps to M-53 were resurfaced.

Meanwhile, MDOT on Monday also said motorists who usually use the 12 Mile Road ramp to Interstate 94 to head into Detroit will have to find an alternate route later this month.

State transportation officials issued a traffic advisory that said the 12 Mile ramp to westbound I-94 is closing for repaving work.

According to the advisory, the closure will begin Thursday, May 15 and run about two weeks, or through late May.

Traffic will be detoured to northbound Gratiot Avenue (M-3) to the Gratiot/WB I-94 connector, north of Interstate 696 between 13 Mile Road and Masonic Boulevard.

Motorists have long complained about the ramp, which has several potholes as they turn from 12 Mile on to the freeway.