HOUGHTON – Transporting anything valuable – be it food, gas or even data- requires a good backbone to get it there.

Wednesday’s Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance meeting featured a panel discussion on infrastructure. Guests were Aaron Johnson, manager of the Michigan Department of Transportation Ishpeming Transportation Service Center; Pasi Lautala, assistant professor of civil engineering at Michigan Technological University and director of the rail transportation program at the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute; David McCowen, key account executive at SEMCO Energy; and Jim Lundberg, Upper Peninsula member relations manager for Merit.

MDOT handles the design, construction and maintenance of the state trunkline system, including interstates and state and federal highways. The TSC handles the five western-most counties in the Upper Peninsula.

The TSC’s biggest challenge in the U.P. is Mother Nature, Johnson said.

“I like to brag to my peers around the states that no one has it as bad as we do when it comes to weather,” he said.

MDOT relies on a mix of fixes to extend the life of roads, from high-volume ones like U.S. 41 to less-traveled portions of M-26. Though large-scale projects do happen sometimes – such as this year’s upcoming Quincy Street streetscape project in Hancock – most work is smaller jobs such as chip seals that prolong the life of the road.

On the issue of speed limits, Johnson said the legislature, not MDOT, determines limits. Unseparated highways, the highest-speed roads found in most of the U.P., top out at 55. Proposed legislation could change that; rural undivided freeways could rise from 55 to 60 miles per hour; interstates could go as high as 80.

“I definitely see pretty big momentum in that area,” Johnson said.

There are no plans for additional passing lanes at this point. MDOT added lanes for several years through a passing relief plan; that program has since sunsetted. Any additional passing lanes will be based on changes in capacity needs, Johnson said.

The Michigan Tech Transportation Institute offers resources and collaborative environment for transportation-related research and outreach activities, Lautala said. Since the MTTI was established, it’s brought in about $40 million in research funding.

In addition to the rail program, there are varied programs such as the tribal assistance program, as well as other centers that work in collaboration with the MTTI such as the Center for Structural Durability and Michigan Tech Research Institute in Ann Arbor.

The goal for the MTTI is twofold, Lautala said: growing the transportation side of research at Michigan Tech, and provide sustainable solutions for transportation.

When it comes to holding onto rail service in the Upper Peninsula, the key is traffic, Lautala said.

“If you don’t have carloads, you’re not going to have rail service, period,” he said.

The solution is complicated, requiring certain distances, volumes and origin-destination pairs.

“We are a lot of smaller companies, smaller business, and railroads need anchor customers – customers who will ship every week, multiple, multiple carloads – not just a couple of cars,” he said. “You need an anchor customer that is going to provide enough business that justifies putting all the money for maintenance and inspections and everything else that is required by the federal law.”

There’s also another hurdle in the steep grade on the final few miles to L’Anse, which operators have told Lautala is “scary.”

“You have really heavy loads behind you, and you’re hoping that your train is going to stop when you’re going that steep downhill,” he said.

The way up is also daunting, he said, with only light loads tolerable with a 3 percent grade under the limits of adhesions.

Lautala said big companies prefer going to a location and picking up a full train or major block at least 20 railcars – and hauling it a long distance to another location, which is a final destination.

“If they have to be picking up individual carloads here and there, their business model doesn’t fit that very well,” he said.