Road Commission Doing More With Less

A year later and people in the Western U.P. are still talking about the historic winter that dumped hundreds of inches of snow on the Copper Country. And an early start to the winter means an early start to planning for the removal of the snow. The Houghton County Road Commission was one of the hardest hit in the U.P. in terms of their budget, a $500,000 deficit to be exact. Houghton County Engineer Kevin Harju said even if the budget does fall in the red, it doesn’t change the game plan when snow is on the ground.

He adds that the staff at the Road Commission has decreased by 20% since 2006 and many of the other road commissions across the U.P. are forced to do more with less. Harju said the biggest issue is with the snow plows themselves, with some of them being as old as 40 years. But the battle in Lansing continues over where funding for roads would come from, a debate that has dragged on for almost a year. Many municipalities are hopeful a solution comes soon because they sure could use the help.

Kevin Harju will be a guest on this weekend’s edition of Copper Country Today.