State of Michigan

10/22/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/22/2021 10:15

M-28 Munising project winds down for the season

Contact:
Dan Weingarten, MDOT Office of Communications, 906-250-4809
Agency:Transportation

October 22, 2021 -- The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is winding down work for this year on the M-28 Munising rebuilding and streetscape project, but newly added city utility upgrades will push a final phase of the project into a third year.

Paving for the season should be completed within the next few weeks depending on the weather. The segment of M-28 between Bayview Drive and Commercial Street in Munising will be rescheduled to next year so that work can be coordinated with a city project to upgrade the sanitary sewer system in the Brown's Addition neighborhood.

"The city requested the inclusion of additional work items," said Dawn Gustafson, manager of MDOT's Newberry Transportation Service Center (TSC). "The utilities in this area will be upgraded to similar standards as in the rest of the project. It would be much more difficult, and expensive, to make these improvements after the pavement is replaced."

Additional time will be required to complete the utility work. This, along with the need to secure funding and gain pending approval from the Federal Highway Administration, extended the project into 2022, Gustafson said.

MDOT and the City of Munising are investing about $15.5 million to rebuild 4.7 miles of M-28 between Brook Street and Commercial Street in Munising and resurface the highway from Commercial Street to east of Christmas. A shared-use pathway was built along the north side of M-28 from Bayview Drive to the M-28/Alger County Road H-58 intersection, where a roundabout was built last year. The project also includes upgrades to city infrastructure.

Major work is now expected to be completed in 2022. The contractor expects to start in the spring and the remaining work and cleanup should take about three months to complete. The detour for M-28 traffic has been removed and no detour is expected to be necessary during next year's work. The temporary pavement widening in place between Bayview Drive and Commercial Street will be left in place for the winter. The segment will be striped for three lanes of traffic, as it was before the project.

For more information about the project, please visit the project website. MDOT has set up a phone line with voicemail to receive calls from residents, business owners, and the motoring public regarding the project. Call 906-786-1830, ext. 600.