Construction coming soon to US-41 in Marquette Township
MARQUETTE — The Michigan Department of Transportation held an informational presentation for the public Thursday evening regarding the upcoming construction project on US–41. Representatives from MDOT were present at the Marquette Township Hall to discuss the project with the public and answer any questions they might’ve had.
The project, which costs $10.9 million dollars and is set to begin on April 15th, will include two new roundabouts on US–41 at Brickyard Road and County Road 492 by Wal–Mart and extend the boulevard between them. Despite the amount of traffic in the area, MDOT engineers say that roundabouts will work well on that stretch of road.
“Our design team has done an extensive amount of pre–work here to make sure that this is the right fix for this area and roundabouts do work very well operationally and for the highway and for the side roads they also improve safety,” explained Al Anderson, a Construction Engineer for MDOT.
Along with the new roundabouts and extended boulevard, a tunnel named “Pete’s Pass” will be added going underneath the highway to bring a recreational feature to the area.
“We’re certainly excited for the recreational component to this project,” said Jason McCarthy, the Planning and Zoning Administrator for Marquette Township. “This is basically a trail that leads from the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, serving as the backbone, to connect the north and south trails in Marquette County. As well as, hopefully, Big Bay and the West End over in Ishpeming.”
MDOT says that no businesses in that stretch should be affected by the construction throughout the summer.