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Water main improvements set to begin

NEGAUNEE–Crews were expected to begin work on water main improvements on Birch Street in Negaunee today.

The Negaunee City Council voted unanimously at its regular meeting on Thursday to award the contract for the project to Negaunee-based Associated Constructors who submitted the $147,450.75 low bid. Three other bids ranged from $177,794 to $197,457, an agenda supplement shows.

The work consists of removing the existing 4-inch water main and replacing it with 8-inch water main on the section of Birch Street stretching from Hungerford Avenue to Baldwin Avenue.

The project will also include road reconstruction consisting of subbase, gravel base, curb, hot mix asphalt paving, permanent pavement markings, slope restoration, and traffic control along in addition to sidewalk and Americans with Disabilities Act ramp replacement, according a May 9 advertisement for sealed bids on the city’s website.

The work has been budgeted, the agenda supplement states, to be paid for from the city’s Water Capital Outlay Fund and Street Fund.

City residents should also expect to see construction crews on Croix Street from Baldwin Avenue to U.S. 41 in late summer or early fall.

The project, which is being funded by a $629,743 Michigan Department of Transportation grant issued through the United States Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, includes pavement removal, concrete pavement, concrete curb and gutter, concrete sidewalk, storm sewer, subbase, aggregate base, and pavement work.

Residents are invited to a public informational meeting about the project at Ronn Hall at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

In other business the council unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance amendment governing tourist-oriented directional signs after holding a public hearing on the matter.

The action stems from a request from the Range Mountain Bike Association to place directional signs directing westbound cyclists to the trailhead at the old Howard Oil Building along M-28.

The Michigan Department of Transportation would not approve the placement of the RAMBA signage unless a local ordinance allowing for TODS has been adopted, a May 2 letter from acting Negaunee Zoning Administrator Bruce Houghton to City Manager Nate Heffron states.

The letter states that the site plan for the proposed signage must still be approved by the Negaunee Planning Commission and conform with the rest of the city’s sign ordinance.

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