Township to stick to original road work schedule

IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Despite an apparent change in the timeline suggested by the Gogebic County Road Commission, the Ironwood Township Board of Trustees voted Monday to keep the original road repair schedule that it approved on Feb. 9.

The original plan calls for the township to repair Vanderhagen Road from the “S-Curves” north to Sunset Road, according to township Supervisor Alan Baron. This project would take two years to complete, Baron said, after which the township would begin work on Section 12 Road between U.S. 2 and Sunset Road.

This would also be a two-year project and both would be funded through the four-year road repair millage township voters passed, Baron said.

Baron explained that township officials traveled the township roads with representatives of the road commission and had reached a consensus that Vanderhagen Road was in the worst shape in the township.

The belief that there was consensus regarding which roads to prioritize led to some confusion at Monday’s meeting when Baron said that the road commission was now suggesting a different order of construction, specifically that Section 12 be repaired before Vanderhagen Road.

“We agreed on it, we said (Vanderhagen) was the next road in the township. So I don’t know what changed that,” Baron said at the meeting.

While there was uncertainty at the meeting as to why the change had been made, Baron told the Daily Globe on Thursday that Section 12 had more traffic on it than Vanderhagen and that was the basis for the change.

The board decided, though, that as it originally agreed to use the PASER rating system — which determines road conditions — to determine which roads to prioritize, it would stick with the plan to fix the worst roads first, which means Vanderhagen will be the first one that the township repairs.

Baron explained that while there was more traffic on Section 12 than Vanderhagen, it was also in better shape and could wait longer before repairs became impossible to put off.

“I just rode (Vanderhagen) today, and I rode Section 12 the other night. Vanderhagen is miserable. They both are, but I think a person can deal with Section 12 for probably two more years — not that we want to go two more years, but we are going to have to with the money that we have,” Baron told the Daily Globe Thursday.

He added that Tuesday’s statewide election could possible make most of the discussion moot, as voters are being asked to increase funds for road repairs and if the measure passes, the township will likely be able to fix both roads.