Shelden Avenue officially reopens Thursday morning
By Ashley Palumbo
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 7:53 p.m.
Read more: Local, Construction Complete, Streetscaping, Downtown Houghton, Shelden Ave.
HOUGHTON -- After six long months the streetscaping project in downtown Houghton is finally finished.
No more digging, paving or bricking...the constant construction has come to an end.
Many people will be happy to hear that Shelden Avenue will officially reopen Thursday morning.
Crews worked on several final projects Wednesday...smoothing sidewalks, replacing signs, and painting crosswalks.
"We’re excited to have it be done and we want to thank the businesses for being patient and working with us all summer," said Project Supervisor Mike Momont.
The project finished on budget and on time.
The street was completely overhauled with new sewer and water lines put in and now a beautiful brick road and fancy street lights are the reward.
"It looks great,” said City Manager Scott MacInnes. “I think it's a big addition to our downtown and I think it'll attract more people to the downtown."
Starting at around 9:30 Thursday morning crews will remove the last barricades, and with the help of the police, they'll begin redirecting traffic from Montezuma to Shelden Avenue.
"It’s not going to be a good day to travel throughout town,” said Houghton City Police Chief John Donnelly. “You'll need to give yourself more time to get places and obviously as we tear down the detour it's going to cause traffic delays."
Drivers trying to continue to M-26 may have to go across the bridge and into Hancock to turn around while they re-open the loop.
Everything could be back to normal by early afternoon.
