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BIG MONEY: Study estimates U.S. 41 corridor improvements at $3.1 million but changes would be significant

Looking west from near Commerce Drive in Marquette Township, is an artist’s rendering based on a photo taken by a drone shows the U.S. 41 corridor with potential improvements, including landscaping and multiuse paths on the north and south sides of the highway. The Marquette Township Board in 2016 hired consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff to study potential improvements along the corridor. (Image courtesy of Marquette Township)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette Township Board on Tuesday took its first look at an initial study of potential improvements that could be made to a 2.7-mile stretch of U.S. 41 within the township, including lighting, non-motorized infrastructure and an underpass beneath the highway.

The township board in June commissioned consultant Parsons Brinckerhoff to complete the study.

Township officials said a meeting was scheduled for early next week with representatives of the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Marquette Board of Light and Power to gather more detailed costs of the proposed improvements, but consultants estimated the total at more than $3.1 million, though that expense could be lower if a less extensive lighting option is taken.

No decisions have been made, but township officials are discussing the possibility of completing the improvements in coordination with two MDOT projects, scheduled for 2019 and 2021.

The MDOT work includes extending west the boulevard-style median from where it currently ends at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Marquette County Road HQ, and resurfacing the highway from its intersection with Commerce Drive east to the roundabout at South Front Street in the city of Marquette.

An artist’s rendering facing north shows a proposed underpass beneath U.S. 41 and pathways leading to it from either side of the highway, which is also lined with non-motorized multiuse pathways and landscaping. The rendering again used a photo taken by a drone. The tunnel is positioned to the east of the Menards access drive. (Image courtesy of Marquette Township)

“If everybody is going to be mobilized, now is the time to do it,” said Jason McCarthy, township planner and zoning administrator.

McCarthy said the township took the same approach when redoing its roads and concurrently completing utility infrastructure upgrades to avoid additional future costs of reconstructing roadways again, once the underground infrastructure upgrades were originally scheduled.

“So these are all reasons why the time is right, and if you can piggyback some of these projects onto the MDOT projects, it’s going to be an even further cost-savings for us,” he said.

Rather than a continuous lighting approach throughout the entire corridor, the study recommends a partial lighting strategy — with lighting installed at signalized intersections — due to about 75 percent of accidents in the corridor occurring during daylight hours.

The partial lighting approach was estimated to cost $8,200, while the continuous strategy could be up to $648,000.

Lighted multiuse pathways for pedestrians and non-motorized traffic were recommended to be installed on both the north and south sides of the highway at an estimated cost of roughly $1.01 million.

Township board members expressed concern of the future maintenance and snow removal expenses associated with pathways, and McCarthy said that could be further evaluated in a revised version of the study.

To improve aesthetics, the study suggested landscaping along the corridor’s multiuse pathways and in the center median could include low-maintenance native species.

The study also said a 14-foot-wide tunnel passing beneath the highway, which could be located just east of the Menards access drive, could cost about $1.47 million, excluding landscaping and aesthetics.

Consultants said the “grade separated” pathway crossing the highway would increase the safety of users; provide connector routes for trails and the non-motorized network; maintain existing traffic operations; and attract more users to the trail network.

“This would be a little bit more expensive of a project, but it’s a legacy project,” McCarthy said. “If you’re able to do that, you can connect virtually Big Bay, Ishpeming — all of that with a safe passage under the highway connected to the Iron Ore Heritage Trail, which really serves as the backbone for all of these proposed future connections.”

McCarthy said if a grant could be secured, it would likely require a 25 percent local match, but he said there is a large amount of interest in the project, from snowmobile clubs to trail advocates.

“We’re so blessed to have the Iron Ore Heritage Trail run through,” he said. “I mean, you’ve got a 48-mile non-motorized — except for December to April — pathway to spur off of or connect to. So, if we can get people off of the Iron Ore Heritage Trail and into the business community, and use that as a selling point for some of these projects, I think it would go a long way.”

The U.S. 41 corridor study cost $42,000, with funding coming from a one-year 1-mill levy on taxpayers in the Marquette Township Downtown Development Authority’s district.

The DDA last year also began the process of expanding its boundary, which township officials said may provide more tax revenue to pay for part of the project.

Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.

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