GLADSTONE — Only minor work is planned Gladstone’s streets in 2025. Residents can expect to see just preventative maintenance this season; bigger jobs are scheduled for next year.

The largest road project for the small city this year is chip-sealing in the south bluff area — close to $130,000 worth, said Public Works Superintendent Barry Lund.

Regular patching and crack-filling elsewhere in town may be done as needed.

The calm on Gladstone’s roads this summer is vastly at odds with the construction in its neighboring city; Escanaba is completing major infrastructure improvements beneath its roads, frustrating residents with the torn-up surfaces and numerous detours all over town.

Like other communities around Michigan, though, Gladstone is also due to make larger infrastructure changes, and residents can expect to be affected in 2026.

Replacements of sanitary sewer lining on Minneapolis Avenue and the western ends of Superior and Delta Avenues are out for bids at the moment. It’s possible some prep work may begin this autumn, said City Manager Eric Buckman. Ultimately it’ll be up to the winning contractor to produce a timeline, but the majority of the work in those areas should take place next spring.

More aggressive work that will involve road surfaces being fully torn up is expected next year on North 17th Street and Minnesota and Michigan Avenues as sewers are replaced.

In the past, those would have been funded partially by special assessments charged to residents. Since that possibility was stricken from the city’s charter by voters in November 2024, funding will come from the city’s budget, loans and grants.

There’s the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), a federal-state partnership that issues low-interest loans to municipalities for water quality improvements. However, they only contribute towards half of a road project, Buckman said. Another 2% loan will be coming from the highway department.

More details will emerge as plans progress.