On March 9, Davison Township Supervisor Jim Slezak gave the township board his road update. According to the meeting minutes, he said Lapeer Road "will not be getting widened from C&L Ward to M-15." A week later, MLive's roundup of 2026 Genesee County road projects quoted a Road Commission spokesperson saying the roughly $1 million job would more likely happen in 2027 because of possible drain issues.
By late August, the cones were up anyway. Eastbound drivers have used the Gale Road and Davison Road detour ever since, and the Genesee County Road Commission expects the work to finish at the end of November. The new lane sits at the M-15 end of the Lapeer Road corridor between Irish Road and M-15, which county planners flagged for congestion years ago, and the corner it feeds keeps adding businesses.
From "Not Getting Widened" to One-Way in Five Months
Here's how the year went, as the public record shows it:
- March 9: The supervisor tells the township board the C&L Ward-to-M-15 widening isn't happening.
- March 17: MLive reports the work would likely move to 2027 because of possible drain issues.
- August 17: A Road Commission release sets the start for Monday, August 24.
- August 20: An updated GCRC release moves the start to Thursday, August 27, keeps westbound traffic open, and sends eastbound traffic around by Gale Road and Davison Road to M-15.
- Last week of October: A regional road-closure roundup lists the Lapeer Road work as continuing through late November, with the eastbound detour still posted.
The western end of the work zone is the C&L Ward driveway at 9284 Lapeer Road. That driveway marks the project limit in the county's planning documents. C&L Ward has simply been on that spot a long time: the company opened its first Davison store in 1977 and moved it to Lapeer Road in 1979.
The Money Comes From a Congestion Program
The current transportation improvement program from the Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission lists the job as project 216251. It covers 0.450 mile of "additional lane(s)" on Lapeer Road from the C&L Ward driveway to M-15. The cost has moved up across versions of the plan:
| Source | Total shown |
|---|---|
| Earlier GCMPC project list | $1,035,000 |
| MLive, March 2026 | About $1 million |
| GCMPC TIP, updated through Oct. 27, 2026 | $1,288,469 |
The latest total splits into $386,688 in state money and $901,781 in local money, with no federal share. The funding code is "EDC," which MDOT's statewide program defines as Economic Development Category C.
Category C is part of Michigan's Transportation Economic Development Fund. MDOT's annual report on the fund says Category C pays for congestion relief on county primary roads and city major streets in qualifying urban counties, and Genesee is one of them. Projects are recommended through regional planning agencies like GCMPC. Category A, the program built around specific employers and job commitments, has its own rules. This project is paid for as a traffic fix.
County Planners Flagged This Corridor Years Ago
Congestion money suggests congestion, and GCMPC wrote it down well before this year. Its congestion management technical report, written for the county's 2040 long-range plan, gave Lapeer Road between Irish Road and State Road a level-of-service grade of E. On that scale, A is free-flowing and F is breakdown. The same report counted 12,312 vehicles a day on that stretch in 2014, up from 11,423 in 2004.
The report then tested what different fixes would do. For Lapeer Road from Irish to State, the long-range plan's project was a widening from two lanes to five, and that scenario lifted the grade from E to B. The lane being added now is a much smaller job, but it sits inside that same corridor, at its M-15 end.
The intersection has been worked on before. In 2018, an MDOT project at Lapeer Road and M-15 modernized the signals, changed the left-turn phasing, and added a dedicated right-turn lane for M-15 traffic turning onto Lapeer Road, according to Genesee County View. That project fixed how the signal runs. This one adds pavement on the approach.
What Sits Inside the Work Zone
Lapeer Road addresses climb as you head east. C&L Ward is at 9284, and Applebee's and KFC sit east of M-15 at 10040 and 10018. Several familiar stops have addresses in between, inside the project limits:
- Cottage Inn Pizza & Pub, 9430 Lapeer Road
- Big Apple Bagels, 9434 Lapeer Road
- El Cozumel Mexican Grill, 9497 Lapeer Road
- Flag City Diner, 9498 Lapeer Road
That makes the work zone the bagel, diner, and pizza stretch, which is why the detour has been so noticeable. Westbound traffic has stayed open the whole time. Eastbound drivers coming from town have been sent around by Gale Road and Davison Road. Questions about the work go to Gerrad Godley, the Road Commission's construction manager, at 810-767-4920 ext. 236, according to MLive's August report.
The M-15 Corner Keeps Filling In
Just around the corner on South State Road, the next business has already been approved. On July 8, the Davison Township Planning Commission approved a site plan and a drive-through permit for a 2,325-square-foot Chipotle on a vacant M-15 parcel between Davison Automotive at 1087 S. State Road and Chase Bank at 1121 S. State Road, MLive reported. The approved plan includes 33 parking spaces. Genesee County View described the site as across from Subway and next to Chase.
According to the commission's minutes, the development team said no new driveway is planned, the drive-through will be on the north side of the building, and a traffic study was submitted. Developer Jason Kishmish, founder of Grand Management and Development, told MLive he has "always had my eye on Davison." He said the target is to open by the end of 2027. For now, the closest Chipotle locations are on Miller Road in Flint Township, South Saginaw Street in Grand Blanc, and Owen Road in Fenton.
In the same March update where he said the widening wasn't happening, the supervisor also told the board that "several new businesses are showing interest in coming." More businesses at the corner means more cars on the approach, and the approach is what the Road Commission is widening.
Around the Detour This Fall
Other parts of Davison Township got new places this fall too. El Patrón by Botanas El Paiza opened October 22 at 7498 Davison Road. It's the second restaurant from the family behind Botanas El Paiza in Lapeer County, and the menu runs from street tacos and birria to fajitas, enchiladas, and tostadas, Banana 101.5 reported. It's closed Wednesdays and opens at 10 a.m. on Sundays. On the Lapeer Road side, a new McDonald's at 8101 Lapeer Road held its grand opening August 4, west of the work zone. Clean Express Auto Wash held its grand opening at 1211 S. Irish Road in October.
If the Road Commission's forecast holds, Lapeer Road will be back to two-way traffic before downtown's December parade. The Davison DDA calendar lists Christmas on Main and the Parade of Lights for Friday, December 4. Lineup starts at 5:30 p.m. at the fire hall, the parade steps off at 6, and the event runs until 8. Every entry has to be lit, and applications are due by the end of November.
When construction wraps, the Lapeer Road approach to M-15 will have an added lane in the corridor county planners graded E, and South State Road will have an approved Chipotle site waiting to be built. If you're weighing what changes like these mean for a home near the M-15 corridor, The Shane Adams Group follows Davison Township's road and development decisions closely and can walk you through them. Contact Us.
