Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
WORKERS LOWER a portion of a concrete culvert into a washout on Lake Road, near Little Girl's Point, recently. The new culvert is a key step in finishing the repairs to Lake Road that have been under way since the July 11 storm, when heavy flooding caused numerous washouts and cut off access to some Point residents. Gogebic County Road Commission officials say full access to between Wisconsin and Michigan via Lake Road could be restored as soon as Thursday.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood Township - The effort to repair Lake Road following the July 11 storm took a major step forward as one of the final washed out culverts was replaced Wednesday, continuing a work schedule that could see the road to Wisconsin reopened by next week.
Gogebic County Road Commission Engineer-Manager Darren Pionk said the culvert, known as Culvert 13, was just one of the culverts destroyed during the July 11 storm when heavy rains caused flooding through the northern parts of Gogebic and Iron counties.
"We have ... seven of the crossings substantially completed right now, and they are working Culvert 13 ... that's all installed as of yesterday and they are backfilling. (We're anticipating) that will be opened up for traffic by Saturday," Pionk said. "We do have one more to the west of (Culvert 13), that one's actually called Number 12, they anticipate starting excavation on that Saturday - the pipe will be delivered Tuesday. So they'll set that Tuesday, backfill on Wednesday and hopefully by Thursday that will be opened up to Wisconsin."
In September, the road commission awarded the contract to repair 10 washouts this fall to MJO Contracting for $2,097,192. The contract called for work to be completed this fall, if weather allowed - a timeline Pionk said is still being maintained.
"We are looking very good (for) having the project substantially completed by the end of next week," Pionk said, "which is in line with the contract and the schedule we set at the beginning of the contract."
Pionk also credited the lack of cold and snow for allowing the repairs to be done on time, saying he thinks people will be pleased with the results.
"We could not ask for a better fall to have this work completed," he said. "These structures are quite unique, quite intricate, and I think once people see them, they are going to be amazed at the progress we have done."
In addition to the work being done to repair the remaining washouts, Pionk said there is additional work to be done to parts of Little Girl's Point.
According to Pionk, workers are driving sheet piling into the ground near the Oman's Creek bridge to protect the road from potential damage caused by any waves during a storm.
"We're driving sheet piling in there to protect that because it's really an unprotected roadway if we get a major northeast storm, a wind storm, coming through there," Pionk said, adding those should be in place today.
Guard rails are expected to be installed by next week.
While he expects there will be some work over the next two weeks that requires road closures, the closures would only be temporary.
Not only can residents check daily updates on road closures on the road commission's website, Pionk said representatives of the MJO Contracting will be visiting residents later in the week.
While paving of the repaired washouts won't be completed this year, the repairs are the permanent fixes, Pionk said. This means they are designed to withstand normal flood events and that a storm like July 11 storm was too rare to design the culverts to withstand it.
Pionk also said the federal government would deny reimbursing the project if he had attempted that, as they pay to bring repairs to pre-disaster levels.
While the paving will wait Pionk said this will allow the dirt and gravel to fully settle before paving. The amount of truck traffic on the road will also be too much to justify paving, Pionk said.
"As long as we have full access to Lake Road ... from each direction, that was the plan that we promised residents would happen this year," Pionk said.
In addition to the roughly $2.1 million being spent on this fall's work, Pionk said an additional $750,000 is expected to be spent next year on work at up to 10 additional sites.
The repairs are being funded through a state infrastructure bank loan, which covers the costs to the county until it can be reimbursed by the federal government. Pionk explained the federal government has approved the funds for the work and the county is in line to receive funds, but the money hasn't been allocated yet.
"We are approved and in the queue for funding, it's just not readily available," Pionk said. "In order to meet our goals - and the residents' expectations - of having this opened up as soon as possible, we had to take the loan out."
