Madison Heights police to ticket motorists in Royal Oak near I-75

Hundreds of drivers daily swamping city’s neighborhoods

Royal Oak officials are expected to approve an agreement that will allow Madison Heights police to ticket traffic violators in Royal Oak along northbound Stephenson Highway, which is the service drive for northbound I-75.

Madison Heights Police Chief Corey Haines asked Royal Oak for the agreement to help Madison Heights cut down on all the motorists flooding its residential neighborhoods as a shortcut since construction started on I-75.

Though most people believe that I-75 is the dividing boundary between the two cities, that’s not the case.

Royal Oak’s east boundary includes northbound Stephenson Highway between Lincoln and Gardenia avenues, where Madison Heights police want ticketing rights along the one-mile stretch.

“Since the I-75 reconstruction started, and 12 Mile is still closed,” Chief Haines said, “a lot of the backed-up and overflow traffic is using the (residential) subdivisions as a cut-through to 11 Mile Road or John R. It’s causing us a lot of problems.”

Those problems include frustrated motorists ignoring the no-right-turn signs along northbound Stephenson that intersect with residential streets in Madison Heights.

“We are getting multiple complaints on a daily basis,” Haines said, “especially during rush-hour times.”

With thousands of cars using Stephenson, hundreds of them are illegally turning right into the subdivision at Cowan, Hampden and other residential streets.

Once the drivers get onto the residential streets many are still in the grip of orange barrel fever.

“Residents have reported numerous closecalls with people driving too fast and ignoring stop signs,” Haines said.

Royal Oak city commissioners are expected to approve the agreement at their regular meeting tonight. Allowing Madison Height police to ticket motorists on a roadway that is within Royal Oak’s boundaries requires what is called an interlocal agreement.

“The interlocal agreement is authorized by state law and the (Royal Oak) chief of police and the city attorney’s office recommend approval of the … agreement,” Royal Oak Assistant City Attorney Niccolas Grochowski said in a memo to city commissioners approved by City Manager Paul Brake.

Madison Heights police on the Royal Oak stretch of Stephenson Highway will be allowed to write traffic violations, which would be handled through Madison Heights 43rd District Court.

Royal Oak police still retain their duties to patrol and issue tickets in the area.

Brake said Madison Heights residents, upset about the traffic, complained to their City Council and Haines contacted Royal Oak Police Chief Michael Moore last month so that both police departments could have jurisdiction in the area.

“Absent the agreement, someone could challenge a ticket written by Royal Oak” if the city police ticketed someone in Madison Heights, Brake said. “And Royal Oak wouldn’t patrol in Madison Heights neighborhoods.

Brake said he didn’t know how much ticket revenue Madison Heights might get with their officers being allowed to share patrols with Royal Oak on northbound Stephenson.

“It’s not a money-maker for Madison Heights,” Brake said.

The agreement is good for an indefinite period, but either city may terminate it with a 30-day notice.

Brake noted that neighboring cities with common boundaries typically each get jurisdiction of half the roadway.

“Oddly enough our boundaries extend east of I-75,” he said.

That may be because Royal Oak’s land boundaries were mostly established when the community incorporated as a city in 1922.

I-75 in Royal Oak wasn’t constructed until 35 years later in 1957.