Either way they turn out of their driveway, the Merritts are in for a bumpy drive.
"It horrible," Tanya Merritt said. "Rough. A lot of potholes, they keep trying to patch it and it seems like nothing works," Richard Merritt added.
And, the sidewalks along North Harrison Road are just as dangerous for their son.
"When he tries to ride his bike it gets hard. When he was first learning, he would hit a bump and it would get a little crazy," Tanya said.
Now, three years after they moved in, the Merritts are finally seeing orange.
"It was originally set up for 2014," said Design Engineer, Steven Roach with the East Lansing Department of Public Works. "Unfortunately, the fund just weren't there. And, this time around, we can't continue to put the project off just given the current condition of things."
So, the City is shutting down North Harrison from Saginaw Street to Lake Lansing Road to make a number of changes.
Roach explained, "It'll include spot curb work, spot sidewalk repair, isolated utility work and eventually milling up the road surface and repaving."
From today, June 20th, through August 19th, drivers are being asked to take Coolidge or Abbot to access Saginaw Street and Lake Lansing Road.
"Given the scope of work, the contractor will be working on both sides of the road at times," Roach said. "So, not only for the residents safety, but for the safety of the construction workers."
And, for the Merritts and several other homeowners who have to take North Harrison Road to make it home ...
"There may be times when they have to either park in a neighbor's driveway or park on a side street, but they will have access to their drives by the end of the day," Roach said.
"They've assured us that we won't have any problems or they'd let us know ahead of time, so we're hopeful," Tanya added.
Because, come August, it'll finally be a smooth ride.
"If I have to go through a little headache to have a nice road, it's worth it to me," Tanya said.
Roach also told Fox 47 News by the end of it, the road will not only be free of potholes, but instead of two lanes in both directions, there will be one lane in each direction, a bike lane on both sides and a middle turn lane.
