Westbound Quarton Road is closed between Woodward Avenue and Cranbrook Road through Monday, November 30. That stretch normally carries about 9,660 vehicles a day, according to the Road Commission for Oakland County. All that traffic is being rerouted to build about 1,400 feet of safety path on the south side of the road.
The Township's piece is half of a joint project with Birmingham. When both halves are done, Quarton's south side will have one continuous walk from Telegraph Road to Woodward Avenue. The Township half is this fall's work. Birmingham's half is scheduled to run into 2027.
The Detour, If You Head West on Quarton
Eastbound Quarton stays open and has shifted to the north side of the road. Driveways and businesses along the closed stretch are still reachable from the eastbound lanes. If you would normally turn west off Woodward onto Quarton, the Road Commission's posted detour is:
- Continue north on Woodward Avenue/M-1
- Turn west on Long Lake Road
- Turn south on Lahser Road
- Come back to Quarton Road
The loop is long because there's no closer east-west road to swap in. A quick hop over to Quarton turns into a trip north to Long Lake and back down Lahser. Anyone who uses westbound Quarton to get from Woodward toward the Lahser side of the Township will be driving that loop for the rest of November.
Two dates are floating around for when this started. Both are accurate. The Road Commission's notice, posted October 21, describes its permit as "pedestrian signal work" done on behalf of Bloomfield Township. That closure began Thursday, October 22. The Township's own notice, dated October 5, set the start of path construction for Tuesday, October 27. It said the westbound lanes would stay closed for the length of the project. November 30 is the end date on the Road Commission permit. The Township hasn't published a finish date for the path.
Why 1,400 Feet Shuts Down a Lane
The Township's notice gives the reason plainly. The Road Commission for Oakland County owns Quarton. Its traffic flagging requirements meant the Township, its engineers and the contractor decided the south side had to close for the whole construction zone, from N. Cranbrook Road to Woodward. The path itself only runs from N. Cranbrook to Chesterfield Avenue. Once a road this busy loses a lane, flagging two-way traffic through a single lane is the hard part, so the closure covers far more than the stretch being paved.
That stretch is a gap, and gaps are most of what's left. Bloomfield Township's safety path master plan map, revised February 10, 2026, shows 79.47 miles of existing path. Only 7.2 miles of master-plan routes remain unbuilt. After nearly three decades of building, the remaining work is mostly short, awkward links between pieces that already exist. Those links are often on county roads where every lane closure has to clear the Road Commission.
The program has a long paper trail. The Township says the safety path millage was first proposed in 1998 and voters have renewed it since, with the money paying for both construction and maintenance. The network follows a 1999 master plan, updated in 2008, 2018 and 2024. Each year's routes are chosen based on expected use, whether the right-of-way works, and protecting natural features. The program now carries the name of Jan Roncelli, the Township's longtime clerk. It was renamed for her when she retired in 2020, as MLive reported.
Most of the Contract Money Comes From Birmingham
This is where the project stops looking like a Township job. On August 24, the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees awarded the 2026 Jan Roncelli Safety Path contract to OCG Companies for $1,708,561.20. MLive reported the vote was unanimous and that OCG, based in Bloomfield Hills, was the low bidder of four.
| Bidder | Bid, per MLive |
|---|---|
| OCG Companies, Bloomfield Hills | $1,708,561.20 |
| Anglin Civil, Livonia | $2.1 million |
| Major Contracting Group, Detroit | nearly $2.3 million |
| Z Contractors, Shelby Township | $2.3 million |
The Township put out the bid, but most of the cost isn't its to carry. According to MLive, Bloomfield Township is responsible for 23.61% of the total project cost to cover work inside the Township. That comes to $357,957.50, plus $45,479.25 in as-needed costs. The City of Birmingham reimburses the Township for the rest of the contract. Birmingham's share also includes roughly $100,000 in as-needed costs, which MLive tied to "significant engineering challenges" on the city's side of the road.
Those numbers tell you where the hard part is. The Township's 1,400 feet is closing a westbound lane this fall. The more expensive and complicated section sits on the Birmingham side.
The Half That Isn't Built Yet
Birmingham's missing piece runs along Quarton from Pilgrim to Lakeside. The city's June 1, 2026 resident-meeting presentation lays out the timeline. Township construction was slotted for summer and fall 2026. City of Birmingham construction was slotted for "Fall 2026 – Winter/Spring 2027." The same presentation says the two governments first discussed a south-side Quarton path in 2022 and 2023. One stated goal is a complete sidewalk and safety path from Telegraph Road to Woodward Avenue.
| Segment | Who builds it | Scheduled construction |
|---|---|---|
| N. Cranbrook Road to Chesterfield Avenue | Bloomfield Township | Summer/Fall 2026, path work scheduled to start October 27 |
| Pilgrim to Lakeside | City of Birmingham | Fall 2026 to Winter/Spring 2027 |
That schedule is why this year's closure won't produce a finished walk this year. When the Township's stretch is done, the south side of Quarton will still have a gap near Lakeside until Birmingham completes its section. If you walk Quarton, the full Telegraph-to-Woodward route depends on Birmingham's winter and spring schedule. The Township's November work alone won't finish it.
Township Engineering Director Corey Almas told trustees that using Hubbell, Roth & Clark as the consulting engineer for both the Township and Birmingham benefits the project, MLive reported. On the Township side, the notice says an HRC observer will be on site every day and Township inspectors will visit regularly.
What the Lawns Along Quarton Should Expect
If you live along the construction zone, the Township says turf restoration and repairs to damaged irrigation systems will happen at the end of the project, not as the crews go. So torn-up edges and disturbed sprinkler lines will probably stay that way until the path is finished. Questions go to the Township's Engineering and Environmental Services Department. The project coordinator is Alex Kozlowski, reachable at 947-257-8203 or [email protected].
Where the Path Program Goes After Quarton
Quarton is this year's new construction on the 2026 master-plan map. The same map shows 1.32 miles of path planned for 2027, several times this year's footage. At the same August meeting, trustees added two more small gaps to the 2026 program through a change order, according to Downtown Publications. One is on the southeast side of Bradway Boulevard between Lahser and Tuckahoe. The other is on the south side of Tottenham Road, from 2169 Tottenham to the Birmingham city limits. Work on both is expected in the spring. In September, the board also awarded a retaining wall and fence repair contract under the same program.
The Tottenham piece fits the Quarton pattern. It ends at the Birmingham city limits, another spot where the Township's path meets the neighboring city's sidewalks. With fewer than eight miles of master-plan routes left, more of what's left looks like that: short gaps along the Township's edges that only connect if the neighboring government builds its side too. For walkers in the southern part of the Township, Quarton is the first of these to start construction, and the full connection waits on Birmingham's schedule. For more on getting around without the car, see our guides to outdoor life in Bloomfield Township and living car-light in Birmingham.
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