PORT HURON TWP.- Investigators can only guess why Gene Goyette Jr. didn't realize traffic had come to a standstill on Interstate 69/94 near the Water Street interchange.

What is certain is he didn't see the danger until it was too late. His minivan slammed into the tractor-trailer at the back of the line.

Guyette, 25, died in the Oct. 3 accident. His 22-month-old son, Logan, is recuperating from terrible injuries. They are among the latest victims of one of Michigan's most dangerous roadways.
"Avoid that intersection at all costs," Sheriff Dan Lane said of the expressway between the Lapeer Avenue Connector and the bridge over the Black River. "It has been a dangerous intersection for the 39 years that I've been a cop."

The roadway in question is to be redesigned and rebuilt as part of the Michigan Department of Transportation's $433 million proposal to expand the border-inspection plaza at the Blue Water Bridge. But the work would not begin until 2010 or later, and Port Huron Township's top elected official said that's not soon enough.