June 3–9, 2009, Number 543
Widening US-41 by Michigan Tech's Campus
June 1 was the official day that traffic has begun to be re-routed on US-41 by Wadsworth and McNair Residence Halls. Although construction crews have been working for several weeks now, traffic will be detoured to Cliff Drive until August 21, the expected completion date of the project. Taking a look at the drawing of campus, you can see where they intend to place the new median (in red) on campus as an added safety feature for students crossing. The construction work will widen the current road length by 30-40 feet allowing for a 30-foot median to be put into place. Many different ideas have been tossed around as to what would work best and what most of the students would use. For both Michigan Tech and MDOT the best solution is the proposed median. A median was put into place back in 2006 between the west end of Wadsworth Hall and Fisher Hall and it has worked out great so far.
Downtown Construction
Construction in Downtown Houghton has also been taking place for several weeks now as crews work on Sheldon Ave. Although it is difficult to use Sheldon Ave. to get to many of the businesses downtown, it is still possible to access them via back roads and pedestrian sidewalks. To reward customers, the downtown merchants have come up with Construction Cash campaign. The Construction Cash campaign is put on by the Keweenaw Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and consists of placing $1 coupons on cars, at random, that are parked downtown to award those faithful customers. So far, 20 businesses have signed up for this program and the number is growing. So, if you visit Houghton at all this summer, don’t be afraid to check out the businesses downtown. They could all use our support!
So far, construction of Sheldon Ave. is on schedule and last week construction crews finished the curb work on the first block and by the end of this week it should be repaved. To check up on daily updates, the Mining Gazette has a Downtown Bite, an online blog. Also, the City of Houghton will also have updates on construction, promotion, and other event details for those interested.
In terms of summer events that are to take place soon, the schedule is as follows:- Spring Arts and Music Festival - June 13, 2009
- Downtown Sheldon Avenue Concert Series — June 18, 2009 — September (every Thursday night 6-9 p.m.)
- Bridgefest 2009 — June 18-20, 2009
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885