The Michigan Department of Transportation is hoping to wrap up its U.S. 41/M-28 resurfacing project in Marquette Township and the city of Marquette, and its M-28 rebuilding project in Munising within the next several weeks.

The $9.2 million Marquette-area project involves 2.8 miles of highway resurfacing from Wright Street in the township to Front Street in the city, along with a nonmotorized bicycle and pedestrian path from Wright Street to Commerce Drive. The project will expand the lifespan of the busiest route in the Upper Peninsula, which is used by an average of 33,000 vehicles per day, according to MDOT.

Work on the project commenced on May 3 and was originally slated for completion this month. Now, completion is expected in early November, according to MDOT communications representative Dan Weingarten.

“We’re into the final stages on this project,” he said. “Work started in May and the majority of the project should be finished by the end of the month. Early on, it was anticipated we’d be completely wrapped up by the end of October, but we now anticipate some work continuing into the first part of November.”

Construction along U.S. 41 in Marquette is pictured. The $9.2 million project spearheaded by the Michigan Department of Transportation is nearing completion. The project, which began in May, involves resurfacing 2.8 miles of the highway from Wright Street in Marquette Township to Front Street in the city of Marquette. (MDOT photo)

The stretch of highway has been limited to single-lane traffic throughout the course of the project. Currently, the inside lanes are being utilized in both directions as of last week.

“The contractor is now working to complete the outside lanes both northbound and southbound,” Weingarten said. “Traffic has been shifted onto the inside lanes. Most of the remaining work is top-course paving. The contractor needs to finish some concrete work on parts of the project and pave the final course on outside lanes.”

Aside from asphalt resurfacing, the project also entails storm sewer repairs, curb, gutter and sidewalk replacements, and more.

Weingarten said MDOT hopes to have all lanes of traffic reopened within the next several weeks.

“We want to thank everyone for their patience during this important and extensive project, and ask them to stay patient a little longer,” he said. “We anticipate it will be a few more weeks before all lanes can be reopened to traffic.”

Travel east on M-28 and you’ll encounter more construction in Munising. That project, now in its second year, restarted April 12. The $15.5 million project involves rebuilding 4.7 miles of the road between Brook Street and Commercial Street, along with resurfacing work from Commercial Street to east of Christmas. A shared-use path will also be built along the north side of M-28 from Bayview Drive to the M-28/Alger County Road H-58 intersection. A roundabout was constructed at the M-28/H-58 intersection during last summer’s work.

While a bulk of the work will be complete at the end of this construction season, a portion of the project will be pushed into a third year in 2022. More specifically, the segment between Bayview Drive and Commercial Street in the city of Munising is being rescheduled for next year in order to coordinate with a city project that involves upgrading the sanitary sewer system in the Brown’s Addition neighborhood.

“The city requested the inclusion of additional work items,” said Dawn Gustafson, manager of MDOT’s Newberry Transportation Service Center, in a news release. “The utilities in this area will be upgraded to similar standards as in the rest of the project. It would be much more difficult, and expensive, to make these improvements after the pavement is replaced.”

The M-28 detour has been removed, and no detour is expected to be necessary during next year’s work. MDOT said work is expected to restart in the spring, and remaining work and cleanup should take approximately three months to complete.

For more information on the Marquette project, visit the project website at bit.ly/3pCwX9m. For more information on the Munising project, visit the project website at https://bit.ly/3B8eELj or call the project’s hotline at 906-786-1830, ext. 600.