MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – When a fully loaded tanker truck struck the median on I-75 in Troy, the heat from the blaze was felt a quarter of a mile away.
Small businesses have already struggled due to the COVID pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped other issues from popping up.
Formula 1 Auto Sales, located on 14 Mile Road near John R. Road, was already impacted by the construction on 14 Mile Road, but now the ramp to I-75 is closed due to the tanker truck crash that caused massive damage to the new $224 million stretch of highway.
As the tanker burned, employees knew drivers would avoid the area and that would mean fewer customers.
The tanker and driver was out of New Haven in Macomb County and belonged to the trucking firm Bazco Enterprises. The Troy Police Department are still investigating how and why the collision occurred.
The Michigan Department of Transportation hasn’t been able to calculate the millions of dollars in damage done. Officials told the Local 4 Defenders that they’re still in “incident response mode,” where they’re cleaning and looking for damage.
The next phase will be active construction and MDOT will get estimates from contractors for repairs to the media, the shoulder and rebuilding parts of the freeway.