ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Escanaba motorists can expect a series of road closures throughout the spring and summer as the City’s construction season begins.
This week, the Escanaba Water Department is replacing water mains on South 13th Street. It’s the first step in a lengthy schedule of work that also includes lead service line replacements.
Compared to last year, City Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi says about three to four times more construction is planned for 2025.
“We’re tearing up a lot of streets,” he said. “We’re going to tear up five or six blocks of Ludington for clean water work. The money has to be spent by the end of 2026, and the contractors want to get in and out and use next spring as cleanup work basically, short of work on three or four blocks on Ludington.”
In areas where crews are working, portions of city streets will be closed to traffic.
“We had a lot of issues where people were driving through our construction sites and creating hazards,” said Lampi. “We are asking Public Safety to enforce the ‘road closed’ signs and ticket people if they need to.”
When work is scheduled in a neighborhood, Lampi says the department does its best to notify residents about future water service disruptions and boil advisories.
“If the contractor works out everything right, it gets shut down and turned on in a relatively expedited manner,” Lampi said, “but we will not go home until we’re sure that everyone has water at the end of the day. Call if you have questions and be patient, please. It’s going to be quite the process.”
Anyone with questions about ongoing or upcoming work can call the Water Department at (906) 786-3291. If a representative is not available, callers are encouraged to leave a message.
