MDOT Director Paul Ajegba Visit College Avenue Project in Houghton

HOUGHTON – Michigan Deprtment of Transportation Director Paul Ajegba is in town this week. He is in the area for the Portage Lake Lift Bridge’s dedication ceremony today and to check on the status of the College Avenue project. He and other local MDOT officials toured the construction project, starting off near where last year’s work finished close to Michigan Tech’s campus.

I’m a field engineer myself, I like to get out in the field and feel ,see and touch the progress of a project. And especially the opportunity for me to visit our offices up here. I am the director for the entire state, not just the lower peninsula. So getting the chance to come out and spend some time with our team up here, I think it goes a long way for them to know they’ve got support from us in Lansing, and the governor. – Paul Ajegba, Michigan Department of Transportation Director

The state is spending 3.5 billion dollars on road work this year. And many projects throughout the state will help upgrade Michigan’s infrastructure and improve roadways. Director Ajegba says that is the most amount of money the state has spent in it’s history on infrastructure. MDOT continues chipping away at the large number of projects that will make Michigan’s roads more enjoyable to cruise.

It’s a two year project, we did the first half last year. Now we’re doing the second half, all indications from our field people here, is that everything is going very well. And it’s going to be on budget, and on schedule. – Paul Ajegba, Michigan Department of Transportation Director

College Avenue is expected to finish both on time and on budget; which is good news, considering the amount of trouble construction crews and developers have had regarding the supply chain and getting materials. The college avenue project will reconstruct the entire road adding a middle turn lane for safer travel. The project is in phase two of the two year project. Crews should finish up work later this summer.