Ilsa Minor | Daily Press Above, a portion of Stephenson Avenue can be seen. The road was torn apart last fall as part of the city’s lead service line replacement project and remains unrestored due to a series of events related to contractors and grant funding. There is hope for residents, however, as the city has plans in place to have the road completed by the end of the construction season.

ESCANABA — Escanaba residents have seen increased road construction across the city this summer as crews work to meet the state’s mandate for lead service line replacement, but one street, Stephenson Avenue, has been particularly hard hit by the construction.

“A lot of mistakes made. Hopefully we’re going to correct them as we keep moving forward. I feel really bad for the Stephenson Avenue people, and unfortunately, these were plans made 18-20 months ago that just kind of went wrong,” said Escanaba Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi.

According to Lampi, Stephenson Avenue was already slated to be paved when the city began planning for this round of lead service line replacements. Because the city has been coordinating its line replacement work with paving projects to avoid tearing up new pavement, the condition of the existing road pushed Stephenson Avenue to the top of the list.

“Stephenson was planned to be paved so it was stated that we needed to get the water services done before the paving occurred this spring. So because the paving was planned to be done in the spring we did our work last fall,” said Lampi.

The line work was completed before winter, but the city failed to reinstall curbing around the road. While that typically would not have been a problem, as the city would just replace the curb in the spring, the city’s relationship with the subcontractor responsible for concrete work broke down, and the work was left unfinished.

The city has since contracted with a new concrete subcontractor, but issues with grant funding for paving prevented the city from moving forward with replacing the road — leaving residents with a combination of dilapidated asphalt, gravel, dirt ditches, and sidewalks that end before reaching the street.

“The people on Stephenson are rightfully mad, they’ve been through a lot,” said Lampi.

There is hope on the horizon, however. The city is actively pursuing a grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Small Urban grant program to complete the paving. If that fails, Lampi has what he describes as “emergency plans” to cover the paving costs.

“I can promise them that it will be paved one way or another before the end of the construction season,” said Lampi.

Lampi says he expects the paving to be completed by the end of September or mid-October at the latest. He hopes to have the curb and all of the ADA-compliant sidewalk approaches installed in the next three to four weeks.