MDOT & police watching US-41

Safety is a concern on a very busy stretch of US-41 in Marquette County.

The continued growth of Marquette Township has added more traffic to an already congested area.

But an increased number of accidents in one particular area is causing some concern.

The stretch of US-41 between Wright Street and Brickyard Road near the Lowe’s store has been the scene of several recent accidents.

Police who have dealt with accidents at that location say drivers need to be vigilant anytime, but especially when entering or exiting a highway.

“People need to be aware, they need to pay attention, make sure they have a clear way,” Capt. David Lemire of the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department said. “We have been working with MDOT and they are probably going to look into that area, along with Marquette Township.”

Solutions to help stem the flow of traffic and make it easier for drivers to enter the highway from residential and business driveways are not easily found.

“Probably the natural progression would be the extension of the boulevard, and go to indirect lefts like you see in the majority of the township, but those are expensive projects,” MDOT Ishpeming Transportation Service Center manager Andy Sikkema said. “We have received funding to do the early preliminary engineering on that, to see if it is feasible to extend the boulevard out past Brickyard Road, but that would be several years out.”

Sikkema says that during that time, MDOT, developers, Marquette Township and the Marquette County Road Commission would be looking at interim measures to take care of some of the current issues.