Bloomfield Township Secures $1.4M Grant for 2027 Telegraph Road Safety Path Expansion

Bloomfield Township received $1.4 million from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. The money will build a safety path on Telegraph Road. SEMCOG handed over the check Monday, Nov. 10, 2025.

The Transportation Alternative Program grant pays for a path stretching from Mall Drive to Golf Drive. It runs beside northbound Telegraph Road. Township officials identified this route in their Safety Path Master Plan, hoping to link scattered sections and fill missing pieces.

This path measures 1.4 miles long and 6 feet wide. It'll connect with a segment finished in 2024 using different TAP grant money—that earlier piece ran from Mall Drive to Clinton River Trail. Workers will install Americans with Disabilities Act ramps at intersections and driveways.

Total cost? Over $2.3 million. The TAP grant covers $1.4 million. The township chips in about $897,000. That means the grant pays for 50 to 60 percent of everything.

"Getting this funding will really help push this project forward," said Karyn Stickel, Vice President from Hubbell, Roth & Clark, the consulting engineering firm the township uses, according to Downtown Publications.

A township mileage helps pay for the path. Yet HRC and local officials want more funding to speed things up. Projects this size would drag on if only the mileage paid for them.

Corey Almas, Director of Engineering and Environmental Services, explained why they chased another grant. "Because of the success of that project, we felt imperative to apply for another TAP grant that covers the extension of the northbound Telegraph Road," Almas said, as reported by Downtown Publications.

Officials applied last February. They got the award in May. TAP grants are competitive and federally funded, requiring townships to contribute at least 20 percent. The grant only pays for construction—the township must cover design engineering, construction engineering, and any right-of-way acquisition.

Workers finished the topographic survey earlier in November. Officials are still working out what easements they'll need.

Construction plans wrapped up in November. Bidding happens in late 2026. Work starts summer 2027.

The township last got a TAP grant in 2020. Construction finished in 2024 on Telegraph Road. That work included ADA crosswalks in three spots—two of which crossed Telegraph Road for the first time.