Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Wakefield — Residents looking to travel east from Wakefield will have to continue taking the detour around Lake Gogebic if they want to use M-28, as the Jackson Creek bridge project isn’t expected to be finished this month.
“While we can’t give a definite date for reopening to traffic, we are confident the project will be completed this construction season,” said Dan Weingarten, a Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman. “We will let the public know as soon as a solid timeline is established.”
The bridge deck has been poured and the concrete is curing, he said, but the paving, guardrails and other work still needs to be done before traffic can resume using the highway.
The $3.9 million project has encountered a variety of delays — including weather and construction delays, as well as a recent statewide labor dispute — pushing the project’s completion back several times, including the previously announced date of Oct. 12.
Weingarten asked for patience as the project forces drivers to use M-64 on the west side of Lake Gogebic and U.S. 2 as a detour while the bridge east of Wakefield is being replaced.
“We certainly understand the frustration the public must be feeling over these delays, but we ask for everyone’s patience while we continue to work to get this important project completed,” Weingarten said.
The rains and flooding earlier this summer delayed the project, he previously told the Daily Globe, and the bridge abutments took longer than expected to build.
Work on the bridge was slowed but not halted during the statewide labor impasse that ended Sept. 27, Weingarten said. The dispute between road contractors and a union of heavy equipment operators disrupted more than 150 projects around Michigan — including major work on Interstates 75 and 696 in the Detroit area.
The Jackson Creek project is replacing the bridge, built in 1932, with a larger bridge.
The new bridge will be five feet higher, 20 feet longer and 11 feet wider than the previous structure, Weingarten said in August.