HOUGHTON — Residents of Houghton County have likely noticed maintenance on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. Maintenance of the bridge that connects Hancock and Houghton has resulted in lane closures and occasional traffic congestion in recent days.

Heavier work on the bridge is scheduled to continue from Nov. 3 to Nov. 10, and may disturb water traffic more than highway traffic.

“During that time, we’re planning on replacing some communication cable connections and the bridge won’t be operational,” said Michigan Department of Transportation Operations Engineer Ken Filpus.

During the repairs, the bridge will be fixed in its intermediate position. This will allow highway traffic and small watercraft traffic to continue. The bridge will be unable to lift for taller watercraft, however.

“We put a sign up to alert maritime traffic ahead of time,” said Filpus. “We did get approval from the Coast Guard and they issued a notice to maritime traffic also.”