NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Six years after the City of Negaunee, Negaunee Public School District and Michigan State Univerisy School of Planning, Design and Construction planned to study pededstrian safety surrounding Negaunee schools, the collaborative project is set to begin this week.
Administered through MDOT, the $738,000 project will build a set of brand new sidewalks deemed to make safer connections to Lakeview Elementary, Negaunee Middle and Negaunee High School, including a new walkway up the high school’s parking lot.
While there aren’t any specific incidents backing up the project’s urgency, City Manager Nate Heffron says its a matter of preventing any issues in the future.
“Kids who are already walking right now have limited options sometimes, especially during the winter,” he said. “The whole idea is to not wait for an incident to occur. We’ve figured out what routes students are taking and how we can make those routes better established with a sidewalk, so they can get there in a safe manner, rather than being in the street.”
Streets affected by construction will include Division Street, E. Arch Street, W. Arch Street, the Brown Avenue/N. Baldwin Avenue intersection, Birch Street, Maas Street, and Baldwin Avenue. More details can be found here.
The project is expected to continue through the summer and complete by mid-October.
