Crews redo markings on major corridor

MARQUETTE — Those spending some time on Third Street in Marquette Wednesday may have noticed a little bit of noise and dust.

Crews were out grinding off old traffic markings and repainting them. The day’s project wasn’t just about making the street more attractive. Markings were moved to help align the street with the Third Street Corridor Sustainable Development Plan.
Part of that plan includes a bike lane on the west side and a shared bike–vehicle lane on the east.

“Going south on the corridor, they use the bike lane, because that’s what it’s meant for — just for the bikes — but then if they’re heading north, they’ll be sharing that lane with traffic, which is what they’re supposed to be doing now, but it’ll actually be marked so everybody’s aware that it is being shared between bikes and the vehicles,” said City Engineer Keith Whittington.

The development plan will also result in more parking spaces. Crews have been giving some tender loving care to other streets in Marquette as well.

“They’ve been ongoing for the last three weeks,” Whittington added. “There was one crew that went through here and did just the crosswalks and stop bars. There’s another crew that just recently came in that’s doing the line work. There’s another crew that came in just to do the symbol–type work.”

The majority of the marking work on Third Street was expected to be complete today. Officials anticipate that other painting projects throughout the city will wrap up in the next two to three weeks.