Utica Road and northbound Dodge Park will be closing for the City’s annual Sterlingfest Art and Music Fair celebration. Motorists are urged to use 17 Mile Road as an alternative east-west route. Sterlingfest takes place July 25-27 in Dodge Park and the City Center, and these road closures are necessary to allow for safe festival set up and tear down.
Sterling Heights Police Department and DPW will be coordinating efforts to close Utica Road at approximately 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 23 and reopening the road at approximately noon on Sunday, July 28. Utica Road will be closed to traffic at 18 Mile Road at the northern end and at Valiant Drive at the southern end. Residential passes will be distributed to residents living along Utica Road and on Dale Court. Dodge Park will also be closed from Utica Road to Lancer Dr beginning at approximately 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 24 and will re-open at approximately noon on Sunday, July 28.
In addition to the Utica Road and Dodge Park closures, SHPD and DPW will be working to mitigate traffic congestion each night, July 25-27, by closing Dodge Park northbound at 17 Mile between 9 and 11 p.m. During this period, only Uber and Lyft drivers will be allowed to proceed northbound to Stevenson High School to pick up their riders. Schoenherr and Van Dyke are suggested alternate routes for northbound traffic for this period.
The westbound lane on Utica Road from 18 Mile Road to the Sterling Heights Nature Center (42700 Utica Road) will also be temporarily closed on Saturday, July 27 for the annual SterlingFAST 5k. This temporary closure will last from 9 a.m. until the last participant exits into the Dodge Park Trail System at the Nature Center (approximately 9:30 a.m.)
New this year, starting on July 25 and continuing through the duration of Sterlingfest, there will be no parking on one side of several streets in adjacent neighborhoods. This is to ensure that first responders can access neighborhoods in the event of a medical or other emergency as well as maintaining a smoother traffic flow and reducing congestion and potential accidents. Violations will result in towing and/or fines. Tickets may also be issues for vehicles blocking sidewalks. A detailed list of streets is available at sterlingfest.info under “parking information.”
Parking / shuttles are available for a suggested donation of $1 per person, per ride at:
- Bethesda Christian Church, 14000 Metro Parkway (beginning at 4:30 p.m. each day)
- Heritage Junior High, 37400 Dodge Park Rd
- St. Ephrem Catholic Church, 38900 Dodge Park Rd
- Walsh Elementary, 38901 Dodge Park Rd
Ride share services like Uber and Lyft can drop off and pick up passengers in the Stevenson High School parking lot at 39701 Dodge Park Rd. If personal drivers are picking up someone from the festival, they should encourage those individuals to take a shuttle bus to one of the four official drop-off locations for ease and convenience.
For more information, visit sterlingfest.info, Like Us on Facebook at Facebook.com/sterlingfest or call Community Relations at (586) 446-2470.