History and future come together in downtown streetscape project

HOUGHTON - Downtown Houghton will go through a transformation this summer. It will be a transformation both into the past and into the future, as the city continues its work to be economically healthy and aesthetically pleasing.

Over the past few years this transformation has been going as businesses worked on their new facades.

The trip back in time will take a huge step forward this summer when downtown Houghton is completely redone with new pavement, sidewalks, street lights and water/sewer pipes.

The entire project will take a long time to complete, running from May 1 to as late as October. When it's all said and done, downtown Houghton will have a brilliant new look and a long-standing water/sewer problem solved.

The street surface will made with brick pavers running from one end of downtown to the other. This street will have the look of old brick roads, but modern technology will help it be a long-term road.

"We think the longevity will be 30 to 40 years," Houghton City Manager Scott MacInnes said.

MacInnes said the new brick will be completely flat, keeping completely silent as one drives over it. He was not worried about the problems that could be caused by excess snow and said that even if problems did arise, the city of Houghton could fix it.

MacInnes said other areas have struggled with the brick pavers because they were patching them wrong, but that is a problem that Houghton will not have.

Besides the new street, the town will be redoing sidewalks and crosswalks with a matching dark aggregate that will work well with the brick pavers. On top of the new sidewalks will be new street lights that will also have a vintage feel.

Under the sidewalks and street will be brand new water and sewer lines the city is providing free to each building. Over the last few years, the aging lines have caused many problems, and is something that needed to be fixed, according to MacInnes.

The project totals $4.6 million.

More than $2 million will be coming from grants, while the rest will be in water/sewer loans that the city has received.

"History has been a big deal for us," MacInnes said. "The grant money is for enhancement, so just paving couldn't have happened.

"So far we've had fantastic reactions, it's been on the drawing board for years now."

In fact, downtown Houghton has had quite a bit on the drawing board for the last couple years. In 2005, the city reacted to the declining downtown by releasing a "Downtown Blueprint" that was created to achieve change.

Eventually the facade program was started and businesses were receiving major grants to redo the front of their buildings. That was a major success, and has given Houghton a good reputation with the national and state agencies that hand out grant money.

"We have a tremendous track record," MacInnes said.

Now the city is taking the biggest step in redoing the sidewalks, road and sewer/water pipes, something MacInnes thinks will continue to turn downtown around.

"Our goal is always to try and keep people living and working downtown," MacInnes said.

The whole project will be finished just in time, as the cities of Houghton and Hancock prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge during the summer of 2010.

Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.