HOUGHTON, Mich. (WZMQ) – In the City of Houghton, demolition has begun on the parking deck on Lakeshore Drive. Built-in 1978, the deck started seeing some serious decline in structural integrity around 2010, and that’s when the city knew it had to start making major steps to keep it operational.
“The way this one’s built they quit recommending you build them this way in northern climates about five years after this one is finished…the city had a structural engineer do a full inspection on it and came up with a maintenance plan which we enacted in 2012, 13, 14 into 2015,” said Houghton City Manager Eric Waara. The maintenance plan was in place to extend the current deck’s lifespan, but the city manager commented the deck is now over 43 years old and isn’t safe anymore.
“As early as 2019, we had to start planning for this to happen, we can’t afford to keep fixing it…this particular piece of infrastructure we need to take it down before we must take it down and we’re getting to that point right now where we don’t wanna have a safety problem with it,” continued Waara.
The current deck is being deconstructed and the city will lose a significant amount of parking, but Waara noted there’s already a surplus of parking. Residents of Houghton declined to speak on camera but some believe this is a needed deconstruction. “Right now demolishing it is the most cost-effective option for us, so hopefully that street which has been in a cave for the last 45 years will actually become, the sunshine will be shining on it and there will be people walking and hopefully a lot more businesses can flourish on those lower levels,” commented Waara.
The reconstruction plan right now adds seating areas, rain gardens, and more mobility options for the people of Houghton, right on the waterfront. The parking deck is expected to be fully deconstructed by the end of July with a redesign to begin shortly after.
Click here for rendered plans for the parking deck. Full render.
