U.S. 2 in Ironwood top priority as construction season begins
Spring road construction season is here and the Michigan Department of Transportation is ready to begin working starting next week.
Construction on many of MDOT’s road projects is slated to start next Monday, May 19.
Reconstructing about 1.3 miles of U.S. 2 in Ironwood is one of the top priorities. The affected area stretches from the MDOT Welcome Center near the Wisconsin state line to Curry Street.
“People heading east will actually continue right through the construction area,” MDOT communications representative Dan Weingarten said. “We’re going to move traffic onto one side of US-2 to begin with while the other side is reconstructed, and then we’ll switch that.”
Work is already underway on the detour route, part of which crosses the state line into Hurley.
The project should make water main breaks and freeze-ups less likely in the future.
“Part of the reason that we’re doing this project, in addition to creating a more beautiful and a safer downtown Ironwood, is to get some of that infrastructure buried a little bit deeper underground,” Weingarten said. “Hopefully we’ll eliminate some of the problems that they’ve been having with freeze-ups in that area.”
MDOT says the project should be complete on or about October 17.
Another section of US-2 in Ironwood, from Curry Street to Luxmore, will also be rebuilt next year.