Daily Mining Gazette/Joshua Vissers Phase 1 of Pointe Abbaye park improvements have been approved, and include replacing these currently existing outhouses with a single, unisex, accessible one.

L’ANSE — The Baraga County Board approved the sole bid for phase one of Point Abbaye park improvements. The $68,500 bid from MD Contracting in Baraga will pay for a new, enlarged parking area, a new accessible vault toilet, a campsite with a fire ring, picnic table and tent pad and some trail work near the parking area.

“There’s a lot of construction work this year, contractors are busy and they’re not able to bid as much as in previous years,” Greg Kingstrom from U.P. Engineers and Architects said when questioned about getting only one bid.

This phase of improvements is being funded by a $45,000 Michigan Department of Natural Resources Passport Grant and a $15,000 grant from the Portage Health Foundation. The remaining $8,500 is being taken out of revenue from logging the property in the past.

Future phases of improvement are planned to include more campsite and trail construction, and further signage.