NEGAUNEE, Mich. — The city of Negaunee is moving forward with the Jackson Street streetscape project, a new phase of downtown improvements focused on walkability and community growth.
City Manager Nate Heffron said the project will bring visible upgrades to the area.
“There’ll be some sidewalk improvements that will be occurring, some trees that will be planted in the downtown area, a new bus stop, new bike station going in, and a couple other features,” Heffron said.
The Jackson Street project builds on the city’s earlier downtown streetscape efforts, which have already sparked investments and growth among local businesses.
“These projects only aim to benefit the downtown, creating job stabilization, new jobs, people investing in buildings, people saving buildings, the whole nine yards. There’s a lot of things involved,” Heffron said.
Heffron said these efforts have already made a noticeable impact on the city.
“From our perspective, the DDA, the City of Negaunee, and a lot of business owners, the work and effort that we’ve put into changing how downtown Negaunee looks, works, and acts has had profound changes in the investments that are happening and the business that are growing and the people that are coming to the downtown area to go to the businesses,” he said.
He also said this this project and the previous ones are only the beginning.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in the downtown,” Heffron said. “Now we’ve had a major investment and we’re commencing the second stage of this investment with the Jackson Street streetscape project. There’ll be more to come, we don’t know when those will happen or what that will be, but the Downtown Enhancement project was just the beginning.”
The city plans to have the Jackson Street streetscape project finished by the end of September.
