Houghton Lines Up Repair Projects

Repairs to infrastructure in Houghton continue on both flood and non-flood related projects.

Houghton City Manager Eric Waara said representatives from FEMA will be staying in town for the foreseeable future at the regular meeting of the City Council Wednesday.  A Program Delivery Manager is expected to arrive after Labor Day and review the damage in Houghton and the progress that has been made to fix it.

Waara said a lot of the projects have been completed by the city’s public works department.  The larger projects, those costing $250,000 or more, will need to be contracted out.

City crews have been working on various other projects including filling holes in the streets, repaving sections of city roads, and beginning work on replacing the old railing on the large parking deck.  Repairs to the Wells Fargo/UP Engineers parking deck is scheduled for after Labor Day and may result in some temporary parking changes.

One project that the city of Houghton does not have any control over is Montezuma Avenue.  Waara said that is a state trunkline and belongs to the Michigan Department of Transportation.  There’s been no announcement on when MDOT plans on repairing that road.

Right now, the focus is on critical repairs of Dodge Street, Bridge Street, and Sharon Avenue.  Waara said those roads are federal aid routes and plans have been submitted to MDOT for review and should be put out for bids soon.  The goal is to have those roads completed before winter.