Sharon Avenue reopening soon
HOUGHTON — As more and more roadways become accessible in Houghton County, motorists may once again be able to travel down a familiar stretch of road that has been unusable since the the Father’s Day Flood. Road crews have been working tirelessly to rebuild Sharon Avenue which allows access to many restaurants retail outlets.
If you’ve traveled down Sharon Avenue in the past three weeks, in search of food or other commerce, you were redirected due to a gaping hole left behind from the June 17th flash floods. Sharon ave is one of over 100 roadways in the county that were severely damaged from the recent storm. And due to the amount of traffic it encounters on a daily basis, and the unforeseeable damage it received, repairing that stretch of blacktop has required a little more time than some of the other sites around the county.
One week ago, the sinkhole left from excessive overflow was nearly 30 feet deep. However, as crews continue backfilling, it could be repaved and opened by the end of the week.
That section of road provides access to 10 area restaurants and numerous stores. While those efforts continue, volunteers continue to make repairs to area homes.
‘We are a service group thats coming from Keweenaw Base Camp. We are based right outside of Atlantic Mine. Were just out here helping the community in anyway we can.’ Said, James Kirk of the Keweenaw Base Camp.
Many of these kids have come from out of the area, and spend every day doing whatever is asked of them as they tackle one project at a time.
‘The Role of the VRC is primarily just coordinating. First, knowing what needs to be done in the community, and then also helping to then coordinate getting crews out to work and get things done in the community.’ Said, Ian Pope of the Great Lakes Conservation Corps
As rebuilding moves into a new phase, many volunteers will be going door to door offering assistance. It’s important for homeowners to know that they will be wearing ID badges and have been properly screened before going into the field.
‘We have ID badges from Houghton County just to kind of let homeowners know that this is from the VRC. These people They’re working with us, they’re working for us. So we do a background check through Icheck with the state police just to make sure that everything is good. After that background check, then we do a safety briefing. We give them an idea of what’s going on for the day, what to be aware of and then get them on their way.’
‘We’ll be having projects coming up all the way through the month of July. If you have anything that needs help feel free to report it to the disaster relief right outside of JC Penny.’ Kirk also added.