Shiawassee road commission reposts M-21 closures daily, no end date

Drivers on M-21, the county's main east-west route, have been squeezing into one lane between Escott Road and Wren Road, and anyone who normally turns onto Wren Road has had to go around it. The Shiawassee County Road Commission has posted the same pair of closures day after day, each one good for a single day only, with no notice saying when the corridor reopens clean.

The commission's advisories describe the work as replacing shoulder tile. The M-21 single-lane closure runs 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Wren Road between M-21 and Serr Road is closed outright from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., which the commission attributes to the same shoulder work on M-21.

The notices cover Tuesday, Sept. 1 through Thursday, Sept. 3, and they alternate which side of M-21 is affected. The eastbound lane was posted closed Sept. 1 and Sept. 2; the westbound lane was posted closed Sept. 3. Wren Road was posted closed all three days. Each notice was published the same morning it took effect, by Julie McCloskey for the road commission.

What the notices do not say is anything a driver would actually plan around: how many days the job runs, how much it costs, who is doing the work, or whether the shoulder tile replacement continues into next week. There is no detour posted for the Wren Road closure. M-21 is a state trunkline, and the advisories do not say whether the road commission or the Michigan Department of Transportation is paying for or performing the work.

The postings are also inconsistent on their own dates. The Wren Road notice published Sept. 2 gives the date as "Wednesday, September s, 2026," and the eastbound M-21 notice published the same day reads "Wednesday, September 12 2026" — both apparently for Sept. 2, the day they went up. As of the Sept. 3 notices, nothing had been posted for Friday, Sept. 4, or for the days after it.

This is the second stretch of highway this week where a closure has been announced without the reason or the scope attached. The Current reported Sept. 3 that the state's Mi Drive map lists the eastbound left lane of I-69 closed from Goodall Road to M-13 until Nov. 17 — roughly 10 weeks on the freeway county drivers use to reach Flint — without saying why, who is doing the work or what it costs.

What happens next: The road commission has not posted an end date for the M-21 shoulder tile project or the Wren Road closure that goes with it. The Current has asked the road commission for the project's schedule, cost and contractor, and will report the answers. Drivers who need same-day information can reach the commission at 701 W. Corunna Ave. in Corunna or by phone at 989-743-2228; the commission's notice page says time-sensitive comments should go by phone rather than email, and that summer office hours run Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Oct. 15.