MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – In Ishpeming, Marquette County Road Commission has placed road barricades and closure signs on County Road 482. The piping that carries the Larson River had too much overflow from the flooding and caused the road to collapse (pictured below).
“This time of year with the forecast there could be potentially hazardous situations out there,” commented Director of the Marquette County Road Commission Pete Duex.
The Marquette County Road Commission has patrols around the county, monitoring these weather dangers, but noted that due to the tributaries carrying water across the UP and the melting around this time of year, these roads can be prone to flood damage.
“Driving around all the county roads and there are certain areas that we know to be more problematic so 482 is a great example so it’s an existing 48-inch pipe. Full pipe of water and it just couldn’t handle the flow. It washed out the roads washed out and that’s a good example there where we can’t just install a 48-inch pipe with the regulations will say that we’ll have to install probably a 16 or 18-foot box culvert,” continued Duex.
The Marquette County Road Commission also closed River Road earlier today in Republic Township with reports of over a foot of water flooding the roadway. The Commission told WZMQ that the wider the river bed is formed, the more probability of overflow which can result in caved-in roads (pictured County Road 482 below).
