Improving downtown traffic
MDOT and City of Houghton work together
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HOUGHTON -- The Michigan Department of Transportation and the city of Houghton are investing about $416,000 to construct a downtown connector route designed to reduce severe traffic backups on M-26 approaching the Portage Lake Lift Bridge.
The infrastructure changes come as local officials seek solutions to safety hazards along the corridor. On Tuesday, The Daily Mining Gazette reported that Houghton Police Chief John Donnelly said that the city was pursuing relief for the congestion stretching from the M-26 and Houghton Canal Road traffic light, past the Yooper Loop and onto the bridge.
Dan Weingarten, MDOT Superior Region communications representative, told The Daily Mining Gazette in an email Tuesday that the state and city have been working together to address the gridlock caused by vehicles waiting to navigate the top of the Yooper Loop.
The project currently underway, which began on Sept. 8, will build a left-turn lane on Montezuma Avenue and repave Bridge and Quincy streets, Weingarten said. When construction is complete, traffic will be able to flow from eastbound U.S. 41 along Montezuma Avenue, turn left onto Bridge Street, cross over to Quincy Street and feed directly onto westbound U.S. 41 along Shelden Avenue. This creates a shorter alternative route to the bridge that allows motorists to bypass the traditional bottleneck.
The work is required for a future Portage Lake Lift Bridge project, said Weingarten, but MDOT is constructing the improvements in advance to allow traffic to adjust to the pattern change and potentially ease current M-26 gridlock. As part of the long-term plan, a temporary traffic signal is scheduled for installation at the Quincy Street and Shelden Avenue intersection next summer.
According to Donnelly, a primary focus of the joint effort is resolving the heavy gridlock backing up from the bridge’s main traffic exchanges. This bumper-to-bumper backup frequently leads to a specific, dangerous traffic pattern when well-meaning drivers attempt to be courteous.
The frequency of collisions between the M-26/Houghton Canal Road traffic light and the Yooper Loop has been the focus of MDOT studies for a number of years. The past three weeks are a prime example. In just over a two-week period between Aug. 28 and Sept. 13, the Houghton Police Department recorded five two-vehicle crashes along that specific corridor. Two days later, police recorded a three-car property damage accident on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge at 9:15 a.m., followed by a two-vehicle property damage crash on M-26 at 7:12 p.m.
Much criticism has been heaped locally on the exit from the south end of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, locally referred to as the Yooper Loop.
"We're trying to address the stacking problem that we have on M-26, where vehicles get stacked up well past Dunkin' Donuts," Donnelly said.
Weingarten stated that MDOT will continue to monitor the area, as it does with the entire state trunkline system, and will work with local officials to identify potential safety improvements.