The end is in sight
Ludington Street nears reopening
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ESCANABA — After much anticipation, the streetscape project on Ludington Street is almost complete.
The road should be fully open to traffic before Sept. 15, said Escanaba Water Superintendent Jeff Lampi at a meeting on Wednesday.
Held at City Hall, the session was the latest in a series of monthly informational meetings for officials to share updates and respond to questions from residents and business owners about road construction in town. Representatives from the City of Escanaba, C2AE engineering, Five Star Infrastructure Services and Oberstar attended and sat behind the dais, while a handful of people showed up in the audience.
The entire portion of Ludington Street currently blocked off -- Sixth to 16th, with the exception of a crossing at 14th St -- will remain closed until the striping of the full span is painted. Though 10th to 15th have had all the layers of asphalt applied, the pavement takes time to cure, so people are asked to respect the “road closed” signs.
Paving of the easternmost section that underwent construction, from Sixth to 10th Street, began yesterday. After that portion is paved, the entire length will be striped, and the whole span will reopen at once.
Far from just a paving endeavor, the completed project will leave Escanaba’s main street with new water mains, service lines, sewers and storm drains, sidewalks, curbs and road surface. The work — some of which was state-ordered — has largely been funded through a MI Clean Water Plan grant that awarded the city $18.9 million with a use-by date of Sept. 14.
Lampi estimated that the remainder of the Ludington Street paving could be done by the end of next week (Sept. 11), but as completion is dependent on weather as well as contractors, that date could be flexible.
Though the main street is the most noticeable subject of construction in town, many other areas were also dug up and worked on for various reasons this year, and they, too, are nearing or have reached completion.
“Washington Street’s been paved to the north side of town. Sixth Ave, Eighth Ave, all of our open road projects, other than Ludington Street, have been pretty much paved, except for maybe a few patches here and there,” said C2AE’s Darren Pionk.
Another major project was the replacement of the wastewater lift station at the east end of town.
“That’s the heart that’s running the city, that lift station -- which was well past its life expectancy,” said Pionk, remarking that people forget about the lift station because it’s mostly hidden from view and appears just as a slab of concrete with some parts sticking up.
“There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes infrastructure,” Pionk continued. “…It’s always been our point (to) leave the city in a better shape than when we started. I think we got it across the board.”
Additionally, “the City of Escanaba Electrical Department mobilized and replaced a lot of streetlights along Ludington, too, in conjunction with the project,” pointed out Stacy Eagle from C2AE.
A couple citizens who attended complimented the team on their work. Ten Eleven Bistro owner Sara Papaik said that September completion is better than continuing later into the fall -- which happened last year when Second to Sixth were torn up -- but she laments that the city and its contractors didn’t communicate better about what work was going to be done in advance.
“Something that would have been helpful for me and would have saved me some money was knowing what actual things (would be done) inside of my property,” said Papaik. As the new owner of the restaurant formerly known as Ludington Grill, she had the place inspected and arranged water line grounding. “Literally one month prior to something that could have been covered by funding, I paid out of my pocket,” she said.
South City Pub also suffered from a lack of communication about construction plans. Early in the season, preparing for the front entrance to be inaccessible, the business had new sidewalk poured out back. Shortly after, however, that fresh pavement was ripped out to access service lines.
The only other member of the public who spoke at the meeting, besides Papaik and a Daily Press reporter, was a resident who praised all the teams involved.
“All of you guys as project leaders have taken a lot of heat, but you’ve done one hell of a job. So our compliments to … all the people that are behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s a major, major facelift, major project in this town that’s going to be here for a long, long time. We certainly appreciate it as citizens of Escanaba. Thank you.”
Finishing touches on Ludington Street will include the addition of ten more trees like those that have been planted in the tree openings on the middle-eastern blocks, the replanting of Enhance Escanaba’s hydrangea bushes west of 11th Street, and the installation of bike racks and benches east of 10th.
A lot of residents have been calling about signs left around the city after construction, Lampi said. The subcontractor responsible has been notified and should be coming soon to collect the signage, he reported.
“I still encourage people to call with issues,” Lampi added. “If they have an issue with something, call; we’ll put on the punch list, and hopefully we can address it in a timely manner.”
The water and wastewater department may be reached at 906-786-3291.