Road construction in Pentwater begins April 15.

Road construction in Pentwater begins April 15.

#MichiganDepartmentofTransportation

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

PENTWATER TOWNSHIP – As the weather warms, road construction projects heat up. The Michigan Department of Transportation has several projects lined up in Oceana County this spring and summer, and the first one begins in Pentwater.

Business Route US 31/Oceana Drive in Pentwater will undergo resurfacing by MDOT from the US 31 south junction to Wythe Street in the village. The $744,000 project is set to begin April 15 and will continue through the end of May, said John Richards of the MDOT Communications Department.

MDOT has four Oceana County projects planned, totaling over $3 million in repairs.

The largest project includes resurfacing the US 31 expressway from M 20 to Shelby Road for $1.8 million. It is tentatively slated to begin after July 4 and will continue through September, according to Richard.

Resurfacing US 31 from Monroe Road to the north Oceana County line will be done in June and July, totaling $979,000, Richard said.

Bridge rehabilitation and joint replacement work on US 31 on the Hammett Road overpass is also planned. There are currently no estimated start/end dates for the $242,000 project.

Five miles of US 31 from Shelby Road to Polk Road in Hart was resurfaced last summer. The $10.7 million project began in May and continued through November.

Oceana Drive construction will be completed this summer. What was initially planned as a three-year project will now be completed in two years, said said Oceana County Road Commission Managing Director Mark Timmer. The project will result in total reconstruction from Pentwater River to Monroe Road. Last summer, the portion from the river bridge to Lever Road was tackled.

This year, work will be done from Lever Road to Jackson Road, along with the final phase (which was initially planned for 2020) from Jackson Road to Monroe Road. The total cost of the project is $1.8 million through federal, state and local funds.

“We will be doing the next two phases of Oceana Drive this summer – Lever to Jackson and Jackson to 1000 feet north of Monroe all as one project with a completion date of June 29, 2019,” said Timmer.

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Tags: MDOT