Road work ahead of schedule
By Michael H. Babcock, DMG WriterArticle Photos
HOUGHTON - The construction project on U.S. 41 that runs through Michigan Technological University is near completion, MTU grounds supervisor Andy Niemi said. This comes one month earlier than projected.
"The highway construction is going perfect," Niemi said.
Pavement work was expected to be finished Friday, way ahead of schedule, and that just leaves striping, the guard rail and a few patches to sidewalks.
"Striping will hopefully be done over the weekend, or early next week. The guard rail will hopefully be done early next week," Niemi said.
Sidewalk work will also be done early next week, and, according to Niemi, the road will open shortly after.
"They actually should be back to normal traffic flow by the end of next week," he said.
Th original completion date was Aug. 21. Niemi credits good weather and a good contractor for being early.
"Very nice working conditions early on in the project means a lot. With nice weather you can be very productive," Niemi said. "And the contractor, Hebert Construction out of Iron River, did very, very nice work."
While the road will be open, a Houghton city crew will work on the street lighting, but Niemi said that won't affect traffic flow.
The project included extending a boulevard through the campus section of U.S. 41. Niemi said officials with the university and Michigan Department of Transportation officials determine that the boulevard made things safer for pedestrians.
Consideration was given to both a tunnel and a skywalk, but Niemi said neither was viable for cost reasons.
Michigan Tech plans to start construction on its new apartment complex next week, said Niemi.
"They started mobilizing trailers this week and the actual digging of the dirt will start the early part of next week," he said. "The completion for the apartment is scheduled for July 31, 2010."
Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.
