By Jim Bloch
The city of Port Huron will resurface Holland Avenue from M-25 to Gratiot Avenue and Seventh Street from Wall to Water street.
At its regular meeting Sept. 25, the city council approved the contracts between the city and the Michigan Department of Transportation for the projects.
The city has been awarded a grant under the Federal Highway Administration to pay for 80 percent of the work on Holland. The estimated cost of the project is $622,000. The grant will pay for $497,600 of the project; the city will contribute $124,400.
The city also won a FHA grant for the work on Seventh Street. The award will pay for 72.9 percent of the project, estimated to cost $256,000. The feds will kick in $186,624, leaving the city with a match of $69,376.
“We worked with the local SCCOTS committee, which allows us to get federal funding into the pipeline, into the city, which covers 80 percent of the cost,” said City Manager James Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on the city’s website.
The St. Clair County Transportation Study is the federally-designated transportation planning agency for the county.
“This includes a milling and overlay of Holland,” said Freed. “It also addresses American With Disabilities Act issues with the sidewalk dump-outs. So as we go back and touch those streets, we do have to address ADA walkability. So there’ll be some concrete work to the sidewalks plus the asphalt. In our contract as well, they have to maintain traffic on that road. We’re going to have a beach season and that’s a main throughway and it will have traffic flowing on it.”
“When is this anticipated to be done?” asked Mayor Pauline Repp.
“Spring,” said Freed.
“Both of them?” asked Repp.
“Yes,” said Freed. “They have until November to finish it, but typically they start in the spring.”
“I noticed in the resolution it said ‘curb and gutter.’ Is that just the ADA stuff?” asked council member Robert Mosurak. “The curb and gutter looks pretty good, so they’re just going to make the cuts there?”
Yes, said Freed.
“Because this is a MDOT project, they will do the bidding of it,” said Freed. “So we don’t have a contractor lined up yet. They’ll do the bidding this fall and give them notice to proceed in the spring. They’ll have a certain window to get it done. Once they start, from start to completion, they have to do it within 60 days per the contract.”
The council considered the two projects simultaneously and voted 6-0 to approve them. Council member Jeff Pemberton was absent.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
