Michigan’s Unofficial State Mascot: Piles Orange Traffic Barrels

In Michigan, road construction is a double-edged sword. We will either complain about the terrible roads we have to drive every single day or we will complain that we have to take different crappy roads because our favorite crappy road is under construction. Maybe you are a commuter and you loathe being limited to just one lane on the highway. Since we don't have a magic wand, we may as well embrace it.

Where Does Michigan Keep All of Those Orange Barrels?

When it comes to orange traffic barrels, Michigan prefers to lease rather than buy. The state relies on the road construction firm to provide the necessary equipment needed to close lanes, exits, streets, etc. One of the state's contractors is Give Em a Brake Safety, with 6 locations scattered across both peninsulas.

Related: Is it Legal to Last Minute Merge in a Michigan Construction Zone?

Give Em a Brake Safety is a company that Michigan used to perform lane closures, you have more than likely seen their trucks, loaded with barrels, barricades, cones, or signs. They are responsible for ensuring the safety of Michigan's road crews who, in many cases, are working while vehicles are blazing past them at excess of 75 mph.

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The number of traffic barriers, let's use orange traffic barrels as an example, varies depending on the rate of speed of the road under construction as you can see from the graph below found in Michigan.gov's Maintenance Work Zone Traffic Control Guidelines.

Just thinking about the amount of construction you encounter daily, and the varying speeds they are in, the sheer number of orange traffic barrels needed is staggering! Where do they keep all of them?

Related: Headlight Tampered With in Michigan? Call the Police!

Most of them are being used but, when you're in the slow construction season, where do they put them? Let's take a look at Michigan's vast construction safety equipment storage, throughout Give Em a Brakes 6 Michigan locations.