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Quincy Report: MDOT updates Hancock residents, business owners on road project

HANCOCK – Representatives of the Michigan Department of Transportation gave an overview of the upcoming Quincy Street reconstruction Tuesday, and answered many questions of residents and business owners in attendance.

At the community room of the First United Methodist Church on Quincy Street, Aaron Johnson, MDOT Ishpeming Transportation Service Center manager; Al Anderson, MDOT construction manager; representatives of project contractor Hebert Construction of Iron River; and representatives of project designer OHM Advisors talked about the project, which is scheduled to start in late April or early May.

Johnson said the design for the more-than $7 million project includes comments and concerns heard by MDOT from residents and business owners during previous preliminary meetings.

“We’ve gone back and incorporated some of those,” he said.

The first step in the project will be the installation of a temporary traffic signal at the intersection of Hancock and Quincy streets, M-203 and Lincoln Drive, Johnson said. The signal is needed because for the duration of the construction, Hancock Street will become two-way rather than one-way east as it is now.

Johnson said MDOT realizes that downtown, particularly Quincy Street, are the heart of the community, and they want the project to enhance that reality.

“Everything important that happens seems to happen downtown,” he said.

Planning and discussion about the Quincy Street project has been going on for about 10 years, Johnson said.

“It’s been a long time coming to do a job that was a long time needed,” he said.

Johnson said although Quincy Street has been resurfaced several times in past years, the new project is a reconstruction, and the road bed will be dug down 2 to 3 feet.

“It’s time to get all the way to the bottom,” he said.

The project will include streetscaping, which Johnson said will involve installing new light posts, plantings, trash bins, benches and racks to park bicycles.

There will be four sidewalk bumpouts created on Quincy Street as part of the project, which Johnson said are intended to increase pedestrian safety by providing a clear view of oncoming traffic. The bumpouts will result in the loss of fewer than 10 parking spots on the street.

Johnson said the project is scheduled to be completed in October, and it will involve inconvenience, noise and dust, but it’s a needed project.

“The bottom line is this is a long time coming,” he said. “We ask for your patience.”

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