March 10, 2021

APWA Project of the Year: Halsted Road Reconstruction and Minnow Pond Drain Project

We are pleased to announce the Halsted Road Reconstruction and Minnow Pond Drain Project in Farmington Hills received the MI APWA 2021 Project of the Year award in the Disaster or Emergency Construction/Repair Category! Fishbeck served as the prime consulting firm and performed all planning, design, and construction phase engineering services throughout the project for the City. Davis Construction, Inc. was the prime contractor for the project.

Halsted Road, one of the City of Farmington Hills primary roadways, experienced flooding events that overtopped the roadway for over one hundred years. The City was faced with having to close Halsted Road at the Minnow Pond Drain crossing, a legally established Oakland County Drain, 30-40 times a year after most storm events and during rapid snowmelt periods. Historical road closures due to flooding were reviewed for the period from 2012 through 2015. Halsted Road was closed a total of 154 days during that time period due to road flooding. The frequency of road closures reached a point that the City’s Department of Public Works installed permanent road closed gates that first responders could close due to public safety concerns.

Community feedback after the completion of the project was very positive. First responders and the Department of Public Works staff are very happy with having this north-south route open and dependable throughout the year. The project was completed on schedule and under budget in December 2018. Halsted Road has not flooded once since the project was completed.