Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A SINGLE LANE of traffic cuts through Cloverland Drive on Wednesday morning as Snow Country Contracting employees continue the U.S. 2 reconstruction project. The work was concentrated on the intersection at the Corner Store.
IRONWOOD - The present detour set-up will remain the same when half of U.S. 2 is paved this summer during the reconstruction project.
When the infrastructure work is completed, including placement of sewer and water pipes, the highway will be resurfaced as part of the Michigan Department of Transportation project.
The current pattern of only one lane of westbound traffic being open will continue on the new road surface and the McLeod Avenue detour will still be in effect.
Mike Foley, of Coleman Engineering, said that five-eighths of the four-lane surface will be paved at that point and traffic barrels will be moved so the remaining three-eighths of the highway can be torn up and rebuilt.
"We'll be driving on the wrong side of the road," he said of the U.S. 2 one-lane stretch.
Snow Country Contracting, of Bessemer, is the general contractor. Tom Schneller, of Snow Country, said Wednesday the project is about two weeks behind schedule because it started two weeks late.
He said blacktopping will begin toward the end of this week into next week and it will take only about two days to lay down the new road surface.
Digging up the remaining three-eighths of the highway is scheduled to begin on Aug. 18, Schneller said.
"Tell it to quit raining," he said, following more overnight precipitation.
The 2014 project extends from the Michigan welcome center to Curry Street.
The 2015 portion of the MDOT project will extend from Curry Street to Luxmore Street, in the area of the Kmart plaza.
Each lane of the four-lane highway is being widened from 11 to 12 feet.
In a related matter Monday, the city commission approved an amended agreement with MDOT regarding the project. It specifies the city is responsible for paying around $16,000 for a sidewalk on the south side of the highway, from Curry to Greenbush streets, near McDonald's.
