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Projects coming in the new year in the Sault

The city updates us on nearly finished, ongoing and future projects in Sault Ste. Marie from the Easterday Avenue Truck Route to preventative maintenance on local bridges
SooLeader Staff
2024-12-16-roadclosedsignjl
This SooLeader file photo shows a road in Sault Ste. Marie closed for construction in the summer of 2024.Jim Lehocky/SooLeader

NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF SAULT STE. MARIE
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Below is an update on upcoming construction projects within the City of Sault Ste. Marie.

The Easterday Ave. Truck Route and Carbide Dock Port Reconstruction: Easterday Ave. Truck Route project is complete. The Carbide Dock Port Reconstruction is now substantially complete as of September 30th. Restoration, guardrail, and fencing are being installed with completion in the spring. The EGLE Shore Power project is projected to be completed in the Fall of 2025 due to electrical equipment lead times. Once the guardrail and fencing are complete, the public to be able to access Alford Park and the fishing areas. Look for a ribbon cutting to be held in the spring.

Meridian Street – W. Easterday Ave to 8th: This project is now substantially complete and will have some final cleanup and restoration items come spring.

Power Canal Trail Phase II - Non-motorized trail continuation - Ashmun to Johnston Street in partnership with MDOT, Cloverland, & Private Donations. (.45 miles): This project, originally slated for 2022, was delayed due to emergency utility work on the canal required by Cloverland. MDOT awarded the contract to Payne & Dolan, and they have agreed to an extension of time until August 2025, but it could be 2026. We will continue to update the public on the project as cannot proceed with the project until Cloverland’s work is completed as they are working directly in the path of the trail. Monthly updates are also pushed out to donors.

Safe Routes to School: This project consisted of improvements for pedestrians within the service areas of Lincoln Elementary, Washington Elementary, and Sault Area Middle School in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  This project is now substantially complete and will have some final clean up and restoration items come spring.

Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrades & Peck-Meridian Area Collection System upgrades and CSO Closure, 2024 CWSRF:

  • WWTP - Miron has been on-site working since the first week in December.. They are preparing for the new chemical feed building and are excavating the footings and slab area as well as installing helical piers and filling these areas with clean stone. Once the piers are constructed, work will cease until March.

  • Peck-Merdian-Work on this project has not started but a lot of planning is going on with Bacco Construction behind the scenes. We will have a preconstruction meeting in February – March. We are still trying to secure 8 temporary construction easements from property owners but realize it may take the start of actual construction to get any movement.

Water Street Combined Sewer Overflow: In partnership with the U.S. Army Corps under their 219 funding, this project would close out one of our three last remaining CSOs. This would eliminate CSO site #007 @ Water & Bingham intersection. The project includes Construct Ashmun St./Maple St. Sanitary Sewer Lift Station, Reconstruct the sanitary sewer overflow structure in the intersection of Bingham Avenue & Water Street to eliminate an 8-inch overflow connector between sanitary and storm sewer which outfalls through St Mary’s Falls Park at the Bingham Avenue & Water Street intersection, and Rehabilitate the storm drainage out fall piping (12 & 48 inch) within St Mary’s Falls Park.  USACE is handling all the engineering and they are waiting for consultant approval the end of December 2024 with construction 2025-26.

I-500 Project: This project will construct new roads, a parking lot, vendor building and other upgrades that will help make the raceway venue a year-round tourist destination. Sault Convention & Visitors Bureau, EUP Regional Planning, and the City are working with OHM on the project design. The project design is complete and the project was awarded to Bacco Construction. EDA has given us the green light and we are starting construction Spring 2025 to be completed by Fall 2025.

MNRTF Grant - Rotary Park Bathroom Pavilion: The MNRTF Grant project will build a new bathroom-pavilion combination facility just off the island on City-owned property at the entrance. The old pit toilets will be removed from the island. The project includes ADA-accessible walkways, ADA-accessible bathrooms - pavilion, new water and sewer lines, parking lot, lawn restoration, and landscaping, ADA-accessible picnic tables, baby changing stations, and a water fountain or water bottle filling station. Currently, the funding has been approved. Design Phase is complete and MNRTF is reviewing the project documents for giving approval to go out to bid. Bidding scheduled Jan – March 2025 and construction summer of 2025.

MDOT Safety Grant – Intersection of Easterday and Meridian: Project improvements will include Pedestrian and Traffic Light Improvements and will consist of replacing the existing traffic signal and pedestrian heads into a box span traffic signal configuration, upgrades of the existing pedestrian heads to LED countdown heads and ADA accessible pedestrian push button pedestals, to make the intersection a four-leg pedestrian crossing intersection. Currently in the Design Phase, late spring bidding, and construction summer of 2025.

Other upcoming Projects:

  • Sault Tribe RAISE Grant – Partnership, currently in the Planning & Design Phase

  • MDOT Bridge Bundling Preventative Maintenance Grant – currently in the Design Phase

Please contact our Engineering Department if you need any additional clarity on our upcoming projects. We will keep our Project List updated on our website. Bid Opportunities are always updated here.

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