Marquette Mayor Jenna Smith, center, is joined by city commissioners, staff and other local officials to celebrate the reopening of Lakeshore Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon. The entirety of Lakeshore Boulevard officially reopened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held Wednesday afternoon. Phase one of the Lakeshore Boulevard restoration project is now complete after months of construction. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)

MARQUETTE — Those who have taken a drive along Lakeshore Boulevard in Marquette over the last several years might be familiar with the detours and closures that were often implemented due to weather conditions.

Portions of the road were often closed due to shoreline erosion damaging the surface, with some areas often shut down entirely throughout the harsh winter months.

However, Marquette city officials hope those detours won’t be necessary anymore, as phase one of the city’s Lakeshore Boulevard restoration project is now complete.

The project was officially marked as finished with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on Wednesday afternoon. Marquette Mayor Jenna Smith had the honor of cutting the ribbon with city staff, commissioners and other officials involved with the project all present.

It involved moving the road 300 feet inland and four to six feet higher, as well as creating a new multiuse path along the shoreline and adding more parking areas, which are accessible to those with disabilities. Initial shoreline and beach stabilization work was also completed.

Phase one of the project was estimated to cost $3 million to $4 million.

Funding for the project was secured through various grants including ones from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the National Coastal Resilience Fund and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The entire project is expected to cost over $10 million. However, phase two — which involves additional shoreline stabilization, dune and beach restoration and an underwater habitat — has yet to be approved by the city commission.

Smith said at the ceremony that she questioned the project in its earliest stages, but was pleased with the final product.

“When this project resurfaced, I was skeptical because of the price tag,” she said. “But after a lot of listening, research and consideration, I did support the project and I do stand by my vote, I’m very pleased with the outcome. It’s nice to see a project making headway in these turbulent times with COVID-19. It’s nice to see some progress on something positive here.”

Smith thanked city staff, the current and former city commissions, engineers and the Lake Superior Watershed Partnership for all of their involvement. She said the project will have a positive impact on multiple facets of the community.

“This project is important for a number of reasons and I’ll list just a few of them,” she said. “First and foremost, it’s additional space for the public to access Lake Superior. You can see how much more room there is now for folks to kind of drive along, stop along the way and bike along. Our beach was getting encroached by the storms and now we’re able to access that lakeshore again. (We now have) improved recreational opportunities, parking lots with (Americans With Disabilities Act) accessibility and the bike path. … Driving along the lake is part of our culture and folks really do think this is truly unique to Marquette and a reason to visit, a reason to live here and work here. (There are) improved opportunities for economic development in the surrounding area, and then some cost savings. From 2008 to 2018, in that 10-year span, the city spent over $750,000 to almost a million (dollars) on coastal maintenance, repair and cleanup. Every year when the storms would come in and we would clean up and rebuild the road, it costs money to do that. So these are long-term solutions instead of the Band-Aids that we had in place.”

Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli was also on hand, noting the project has been over 20 years in the making.

“It’s nice to finally be here after 20 or 25 years,” he said. “As you’re aware, we’re here to celebrate and recognize the fact that this is a great accomplishment here by actually finishing this road and getting it to the point where it is today. I have to recognize and thank our engineering department and our city staff for their diligence in staying focused on this project. It hasn’t been easy.

“If you’re not aware, this area was contaminated with the old Cliffs-Dow Chemical site, so there’s a lot of work that went into this. This is a project that’s been on the books for at least 20 years, and we finally came into some financing the last few years. I can’t express enough how thankful I am to all of you.”

Smith finished by emphasizing that lake levels are on the rise, noting the project was an important step in preserving the lakeshore for years to come.

“We’re learning to live with big weather events and extreme weather trends,” she said. “We’ve had big swings in lake levels from record-low lake levels in 2012 to the high lake levels we see now. With increasing storm activity due to climate change, it’s even more important that we invest in sustainable changes to our lakeshore and preserve it for generations to come.”

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.