LANSING — On Tuesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced more than $220 million in investments across Michigan which includes $21.5 million for 12 communities for infrastructure improvement. The City of Houghton and the Village of Baraga were two local communities, receiving funds supported by the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) Board Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Water Related Infrastructure (WRI). MSF approved a request for applications in March to receive up to $22 million in community development grant funds for this year’s WRI funding round. In total, 38 infrastructure applications were submitted statewide, requesting nearly $66.2 million in grant funding.

One of Baraga’s oldest lagoons, at their wastewater treatment site, has exhibited leaking according to U.P. Engineers and Architects Civil Engineer Project Manager Andrew Keranen. About $1.8 million will go toward the. project to renovate and repair one of the wastewater treatment lagoons. “It’ll take an entire summer to make these repairs,” Keranen said. “So depending on contractor availability, it could either be next summer or the summer of 2027.” Before anything can begin, an environmental consultant will need to review the project area.

The City of Houghton received $1.5 million for water line replacements. The WRI grant is covering 75 percent of the cost, with half a million dollarw going into the project from the city. City Manager Eric Waara said the amount of leverage the grant has brought in allows a lot to get done on little money. Keranen said the project will address some of the oldest and deteriorating water mains on Houghton Avenue between Pewabic Street and Franklin Street.

“When you really get down to it, being able to replace water lines that are in some cases maybe 100 years old in the heart of the city, adjacent right to the downtown area, up in the residential area by Houghton Avenue, the courthouse area and Franklin Street, that whole area –this is huge,” Waara said.

The project will coincide with another according to Waara as the city was awarded funding through EGLE’s Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund for sewer work. He said the city will be doing a full water and sewer project on Houghton Avenue and some of South Avenue between Franklin Street and the courthouse. The start of these projects, however, will need to wait for next summer or the summer of 2027. The Houghton project, as is the case in Baraga, requires an environmental review before it can begin.

“You gotta get through the environmental review, you gotta get through your Historic Preservation Office to make sure there’s no historic or archeological resources that you you may be impacting negatively,” Waara said. “Fortunately with these types of infrastructure projects, 99 percent of that work falls within the developed right of way, within the street. And typically, you’re not, you’re not running into issues with, ‘Oh, there’s an old building site there.’ No, that’s been a street for 112 years.”

Waara added that as a result of working on the pipes, the street will be dug up allowing the city to fix those streets and adjacent sidewalks afterwards.

Keranen explained while the work should be routine, the main challenge will be maintaining traffic and access to homes and businesses during the course of construction.

“Folks need to maintain access to their homes and need to maintain access to potable water, need to maintain access to their sewer systems so they can flush their toilets,” he said. “And likewise, the businesses: you’ve got the Houghton County Offices at the courthouse and the sheriff’s office. Those are important businesses that you need to maintain access. So maintaining access is probably the main challenge here based on the proximity to the to the heart of Houghton.”