Rochester Road's Long Construction Season Is Almost Over. What Troy Drivers Get This Winter, and What Waits Until 2027

"This closure, and future closures, are necessary to complete the reconstruction project in one construction season." The City of Troy posted that sentence on March 25, when it announced that Lamb Road and Navin Field Lane would close at Rochester Road "until further notice."

Most people who live near Long Lake and Rochester remember this year as a string of detours. Troy picked full closures over partial ones again and again, accepting a few weeks of hard disruption each time to avoid stretching the work across extra seasons. The October closures on Long Lake and at Sylvanwood, Trinway and Creston are the last steps of that plan, and they lead into the city's target of new lanes opening this winter.

The Choice Behind the Closures

The project rebuilds Rochester Road from Barclay Drive to Trinway Drive. The city describes it as "converting the existing five-lane roadway into a new six-lane concrete boulevard," with new traffic signals, concrete sidewalks and underground utilities where needed. City council documents describe the same change, from five lanes to a six-lane boulevard. The money comes from a $22 million federal and MDOT grant plus about $5.6 million from the city.

The city has explained its closure choices twice. In March it said complete closures "provide a better-finished roadway, that is constructed without any gaps." In June, before it shut the Long Lake intersection for paving, it said several options had been evaluated and that "a partial closure would have significantly extended the construction schedule, so a full closure was chosen as the most efficient option to minimize overall disruption to motorists, residents, and businesses."

So the rough months were part of the design. The city accepted the cost on purpose, and the timeline shows what that cost looked like.

Every Closure, In Order

A closure planned for three weeks starting Jan. 13 was extended on Feb. 2 because of weather. On March 5 it was extended again for weather, "ground conditions under the pavement, and encounters with unexpected utilities." The city then set an April 3 reopening, weather permitting, once temporary concrete at the intersection was poured March 26. When the plan depends on a few weeks of full closure, every delay lands on the same intersection.

The paving season went faster. Paving began May 29 on the east side of Rochester south of Long Lake. In August, two-way traffic moved to the new east-side pavement with a center left-turn lane, and crews moved to the west side.

Why Sylvanwood, Trinway and Creston Closed Too

The October closures had two purposes. The west side of Long Lake at Rochester closed Monday, Oct. 5, and the WDIV Local 4 report on the cut-through traffic said drivers started cutting through residential streets right away, creating significant backups at peak rush hours.

The official detours go north to Square Lake Road or south to Wattles Road. A city spokesperson told WDIV that closing Sylvanwood, Trinway and Creston at Rochester would let crews finish main-line paving before the end of the construction season and would also stop the cut-through traffic. The city also said it had stepped up traffic enforcement in the area. Residents on those three streets can still reach them through neighborhood roads. Only the connections to Rochester are closed.

Both closures were set for about three weeks. That puts their planned end in late October for Long Lake and early November for the three side streets, depending on weather. On a project where the winter closure ran about two months past its first estimate, the city's Rochester Road project page is the place to check whether a road has actually reopened.

What Opens This Winter, and What Waits

The last line of the city's timeline reads "Winter 2026 – New lanes open to traffic," followed by "Summer 2027 – Final cleanup and restoration." In its Oct. 6 report on the Long Lake detour, WDIV said the new lanes were expected by the end of 2026 and restoration by summer 2027. A separate city construction page says work is "expected to continue through Spring 2027." Put together, the dates suggest drivers get the new pavement first, and crews keep working along the corridor after the lanes open.

Here is what the city says the finished stretch from Barclay to Trinway includes:

• Six lanes, up from five, built as a concrete boulevard
• New traffic signals
• New concrete sidewalks
• New underground utilities where required, including the sanitary sewer and water main already installed along the east side

The city's published material does not yet show the final layout of turn lanes, the median design or landscaping. Any picture of the finished corridor beyond that list is a guess until the city releases more.

This stretch is also one phase of a longer program. The section of Rochester from north of Sylvanwood to South Boulevard was resurfaced in a previous season. WDIV's June explainer calls the current work "the current phase of a multi-year effort" and describes it as widening the road and creating a concrete boulevard.

The Businesses Inside the Work Zone

When westbound Long Lake closed in January, the city said eastbound traffic was unaffected and "access to businesses will be maintained." In practice, getting to those businesses took longer, and local TV covered several of them by name.

James Pitchford, executive chef at Pudge's Place, told WDIV in October that the restaurant feels the impact "every single day." FOX 2 Detroit's report on the corridor spoke with Mike Davidson, a Jet's Pizza franchise owner, about the challenge construction posed, and with staff at LV Nails and Spa. In June, WDIV reported reduced foot traffic at HoneyBaked Ham on Long Lake Road.

The one-season approach was meant to limit how long these businesses dealt with blocked approaches. In the June note about the Long Lake closure, the city listed businesses next to motorists and residents among the people a longer partial closure would have hurt more. If the timeline holds, the winter lane opening is the first season since November 2025 that customers can reach these places without a lane shift or a closed intersection.

The city sends project notices by email through its GovDelivery sign-up for Rochester Road updates.

A rebuilt six-lane boulevard changes how the blocks on either side of it get to work and shopping, and that matters when owners think about selling in the area. If you own a home near Long Lake and Rochester and want to know how the finished corridor could figure into your home's value next spring, Residential Rome can help you work through it. Request Your Home Valuation, and Jerome will go over it with you directly.