U.P. road infrastructure to get $6.9 million in upgrades

In a recent round of state infrastructure funding announced by the Michigan Department of Transportation, roads in the U.P. are getting a little more than $6.9 million in improvements. 

 

The funding comes from the Roads and Risks Reserve fund, which state legislators created with $230 million for 2014 from the state general fund. 

 

The biggest project in the U.P. is a $4.1 million resurfacing project on U.S.-2 in Schoolcraft County, which will rehabilitate and rebuild 4.1 miles of the highway from east of the Delta County line to M-149, says MDOT communications representative Dan Weingarten. The project is planned to start in the summer of 2014.

 

Among the upgrades to U.S.-2: a resurfacing of the asphalt, and a "grade lift," or new gravel and new asphalt atop the existing surface, for about 70 percent of the project. That's designed to cut down on heaving and cracking over the life of the road, Weingarten says. Road width will stay the same with wide paved shoulders for bicycle access. 

 

Schoolcraft County also is home to another smaller project, as $800,000 will go to design and construction on County Road 498. Dickinson County is home to a $775,000 project improving County Road 569.

 

In Alger County, two projects are being funded by the RRR money: $400,000 will go to upgrades on Connors Road, and $300,000 to improving H-44 (the Limestone-Traunik road). In Menominee County, County Road 577 is the recipient of two grants totaling $525,000.

 

About half of the RRR fund was designated toward 103 projects across Michigan in this round of announcements, with the other half available for appropriation as of Feb. 1, if it hasn't been put toward other state purposes.