The old joke of Michigan having three seasons, winter, fall and construction season is increasingly a truism as the folks at the Michigan Department of Transportation continue to tap the state’s resources to accomplish long overdue infrastructure enhancements on local roadways. We’ve shared a number of those construction projects in the last couple of weeks, and MDOT continues to roll out additional projects seemingly every day.
Up next, motorists will face nighttime single-lane closures from 8pm nightly until 9am the following morning on Easbound lanes of I-94 between mile markers 39 and 43 near Watervliet. Those closures are to allow paving on the Eastbound interstate starting this Sunday and running through next Wednesday — June 11th through June 14th.
A substantially larger and longer repaving project will start a week from today and will involve stretches of M-139 in Niles and M-63 in St. Joseph.
MDOT Construction Engineer Chris Jacobs says the $712,000 investment will include not only repaving, but also improvements to curbs and gutters, sidewalks, driveways, sewers and drainage as well as new pavement markings.
The project includes renovation of M-139 from Main Street to M-140 in Niles and for M-63 entails repaving from Winchester Street to the I-94 Business Loop which is also known as Main Street in St. Joseph.
Jacobs says that the projects will result in improved surface friction and a smoother ride for motorists. Additionally, sidewalk ramp upgrades will improve access and safety for pedestrians along portions of those routes. As is the case in most of the MDOT projects this summer, there will be single-lane closures during the construction process.
Click this link for a video of Chris Jacobs explaining the project: https://youtu.be/7YrXtqYz-0M
