US-131 flex route north of Grand Rapids goes out to bid Nov. 6, with MDOT listing a Jan. 4 start and a West River Drive bridge deck in April

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The state’s plan to turn the inside shoulders of US-131 north of Grand Rapids into a rush-hour travel lane is about to go out to bid. The Michigan Department of Transportation’s latest Twelve Month Significant Projects report, dated Oct. 1, puts the US-131 work from I-96 north to Post Drive on its Nov. 6 letting, with an anticipated construction start date of Jan. 4, 2027.

The same report lists the companion job, a deck replacement on northbound US-131 over West River Drive in Comstock Park, on the Nov. 6 letting with an anticipated start of April 5, 2027. The report notes that its dates are subject to change. MDOT’s project page gives the overall schedule as spring 2027 through fall 2028 and the cost as $59 million.

How a flex lane works. MDOT will mount signs with two yellow lights along the corridor. When the lights flash, the inside shoulder is open to traffic. When they are off, it is a normal shoulder, and driving in it is against the law. Only passenger vehicles may use the lane, the speed limit is the same as the regular lanes, and MDOT’s traffic operations centers will monitor the route around the clock with sensors and cameras, the department says.

The lane will initially open southbound from 7 to 9 a.m. and northbound from 3 to 7 p.m., an engineer with MDOT’s consultant, HNTB, said at an Aug. 25 public meeting, MLive reported. MDOT spokesperson John Richard told MLive that the roughly 6-mile stretch carries more than 100,000 vehicles a day, the heaviest traffic in the state outside the Detroit area, and that the project is paid for with 80% federal and 20% state money.

What is in the job. Besides the flex lanes, MDOT lists shoulder widening on both directions of US-131, bridge rehabilitation and widening, emergency pull-off sites and incident-management equipment. The work is being coordinated with bridge projects on US-131 over West River Drive and southbound US-131 over 6 Mile Road.

What drivers should expect. Both directions of US-131 are expected to stay open while the flex lanes are built, but the highway will close, with detours, during bridge reconstruction, according to MLive’s report from the public meeting. Until the work is finished, the shoulders stay shoulders.

The rest of the Grand Region list. The statewide report covers about $1.34 billion in trunkline work for lettings from Nov. 1, 2026, through Oct. 31, 2027. Other Grand Region entries include asphalt reconstruction of M-66 from Tuttle Road north to Wells Street (Nov. 6 letting, Jan. 4, 2027, anticipated start), reconstruction of US-131 from the Grand Elk Railroad north to 100th Street (July 9, 2027, letting), and two M-37 projects, from Cook Road east to Broadway Street and from M-82 north to the White River, both on the Sept. 3, 2027, letting with 2028 starts.

A letting is the date MDOT opens contractors’ bids, so the dates show when work is bought, not when cones go up. Project details and a noise report are on MDOT’s US-131 Flex Route page.

Sources:
Michigan Department of Transportation, “Twelve Month Significant Projects (Trunkline Only),” lettings Nov. 1, 2026-Oct. 31, 2027, as of Oct. 1, 2026 (letting and anticipated start dates, $1,340.18 million total), https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/-/media/Project/Websites/MDOT/Business/Contractors/Bid-Letting/Twelve-Month-Significant-Projects.pdf
MDOT, “US-131 Flex Route - Kent County” project page (schedule, cost, improvements, how flex lanes work, FAQ), https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/us-131-flex-route-kent-county
MDOT, “Public meeting Aug. 25 in Grand Rapids to discuss 2027-2028 US-131 Flex Route project,” Aug. 17, 2026 (West River Drive deck, 6 Mile Road bridge, noise report), https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/news-outreach/pressreleases/2026/08/17/us-131-flex-route
MLive, “What to know about MDOT’s $59M upgrade to U.S. 131 in Grand Rapids,” Aug. 25, 2026 (initial hours, traffic volume, funding split, closures during bridge work), https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2026/08/what-to-know-about-mdots-59m-upgrade-to-us-131-in-grand-rapids.html
Photo: WMrapids, “U.S. Route 131 S Curve Grand Rapids, Michigan.jpg,” Sept. 13, 2025, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Route_131_S_Curve_Grand_Rapids,_Michigan.jpg

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Tags: Grand Rapids · US-131 · MDOT · Road Construction · Flex Route · Kent County