HOUGHTON — Some Copper Country roads will be smoother thanks to the latest round of funding from the state.

Hancock, Houghton and Ontonagon received some of the $8 million in total grants given out through the state’s Community Service Infrastructure Fund Category B program. Villages and cities under 10,000 people are eligible for the funds, which are used for road resurfacing, culvert replacement, pavement crack sealing, preventative maintenance, and ancillary stormwater management measures. The Michigan Department of Transportation administers the program.

The state gave preference to projects that are paired with planned infrastructure work, coordinated with other road agencies, focused on extending the useful life of the road, and had limited funding sources for road improvements, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release.

Ontonagon received $100,000 for work on Michigan Street, while Hancock got two grants. The largest, for $237,412, will be used on the reconstruction of Minnesota Street. Another $142,386.50 grant will fund work to extend North and Prospect streets outside the fairgrounds.

“This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve gotten Category B, so we’re really happy about that,” City Manager Mary Babcock said at the city council’s most recent meeting. “… I think we applied three times for Poplar Street and we never got it, so this is a great way to use our local street funds to match these grants. It’s a 50% grant, but it sure helps out in our budget.”

In Houghton, the $161,000 will go towards work on West Lakeshore Drive between Roy’s and Lakeshore Circle. The project will be designed this winter and hopefully done next summer, City Manager Eric Waara said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. The department of Public Works will be checking the sewers in that area to see if any work is needed that could be paired with the project.

“We certainly don’t want to freshly pave a road and have to do something major with a sewer down there,” he said.

The project can be bid locally without having to go through the usual MDOT bidding process, Waara said.

“We’re just figuring out how to fit that project logistically next summer with Lakeshore Drive, considering the traffic that gets in the summertime,” he said.