Delta County road nominated for special improvement funding

Thanks to $115 million of state funding, roads across Michigan, including in the Upper Peninsula, will be seeing some improvements in the next year.

County Road 521 in Delta County, which serves as a cut–across between M-35 and US-2 in Ford River Township, has been named a candidate for $660,000 in special state funding through the Priority Road Improvement Program. Plans and funding are already in place to improve the surface of the southernmost 3.5 miles of the road and add new guardrails. Receiving this additional funding could allow for reallocation of resources to other projects.

“We have $660,000 already obligated to that project through our 12B task force,” said Delta County Road Commission construction superintendent Van Marenger. “What would happen is, we could take that 12B task force money and potentially use it to finish the project, or we can take that money and use it for future projects in Delta County.”

The three-week project is projected to be complete in mid-June of 2015 regardless of the status of the special state funding. There are a few more details to iron out before the county can claim those additional funds.

“The next steps right now are to contact our legislators to let them know that this is not a 6 mile project, this is actually a 3.5 mile project, and once we get the approval from them, we submit the OK from them, and according to MDOT, we’re good to go on the money,” Marenger added.

According to State Representative Ed McBroom’s office, $30,000 in funding for improvements to US-2 near Moon Lake Road in Dickinson County have also been approved.