It’s encouraging to see the city of Negaunee is continuing to move forward, as detailed in a Thursday front page story from Journal Staff Writer Dreyma Beronja.

For anyone who isn’t aware, downtown Negaunee has been a construction zone since the end of June. Over the summer, construction has consisted of water laterals installation, sewer and water main replacements, storm drain installation, fiber network installation, curb installation, paving, new sidewalks and tree boxes going in.

It hasn’t always been easy or convenient for people to make their way around town, but many have continued to so.

City Manager Nate Heffron said for the most part businesses have said there hasn’t been much of an effect on them. Some, he said, have even seen an increase in business since the project has started.

“The increase is interesting because you think there will be less people down here,” Heffron said. “I think it comes down to two reasons.”

One, he said, is the city being proactive. The second, people are genuinely curious as to what’s going on.

The project has been blessed with decent weather, Heffron said.

“The weather has been fairly cooperative. We’ve only really had one week of bad weather. One thing to know is the project didn’t really start until the middle of July.”

That choice was made on purpose due to the community’s annual Pioneer Days celebration in early July. The city tried to stay away from interfering with any events that might be happening downtown.

The work is continuing, with pavement soon going down at the far end of Iron Street near Jackson Mine Park.

“They still got one top course of the upper part of Iron Street (to do) and they’re not doing that right now because they want to put all the sidewalks in first,” Heffron said. “They don’t want to damage that top course of concrete with having big concrete trucks ride up and down it because if you have a heavy vehicle ride on brand new pavement, it has a tendency to cause damage.”

We congratulate the city of Negaunee for working to better its downtown in a logistically sound manner.

People can stay up to date on the project by visiting the city’s Facebook page at facebook.com/cityofnegaunee.