M-21 down to one lane near Owosso Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
MDOT's Mi Drive map shows the left lane of M-21 between Escott and Wren roads closed during the day Tuesday and Wednesday, then again Thursday — the same stretch that has been under shoulder tile work since late August.
If you drive M-21 west of Owosso this week, plan on one lane. The Michigan Department of Transportation's Mi Drive map lists the left lane of M-21 between Escott Road and Wren Road closed from 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, through 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 — and then closed again from 8 a.m. to 3:31 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.
That is three straight days of daytime single-lane traffic on the county's main east-west corridor, the route Shiawassee drivers use between Owosso and Flint.
The state's alert gives the segment, the dates and the times. It does not say what the crews are doing, who is doing it, what it costs, or whether the second round Thursday finishes the job.
This is not a new closure. The Current reported on Sept. 5 that the Shiawassee County Road Commission had been reposting one-day closures on the same Escott-to-Wren stretch for shoulder tile work — drainage tile along the shoulder — with no posted finish date, no contractor and no cost. Wren Road itself was closed outright for the same work, and on Sept. 6 we reported the road commission had added Copas and Byron roads to its closure list, still with no detour posted and no end date.
On Sept. 10, MDOT's map listed the M-21 left-lane closure as running only through that day, while Wren Road remained shut with no announced reopening. Twelve days later, the lane is posted closed again, in back-to-back rounds.
The Mi Drive listing carries MDOT's standard disclaimer that information on the site may not be accurate, and the closure record contains no project description beyond the location and the hours.
Two questions the state's alert leaves open matter most to anyone using the road: whether Wren Road has reopened, and whether Thursday afternoon is the end of it. Neither MDOT's posting nor the road commission's earlier notices answer either one.
What happens next
The posted Thursday closure lifts at 3:31 p.m. The desk has asked MDOT and the Shiawassee County Road Commission to describe the work, name the contractor and say whether the segment is finished when the Thursday window closes. We will update when either agency answers.
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