The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will be starting construction to extend a bike path in Alpena Township next summer.
MDOT will be extending the current pathway along US-23 that ends at Island Drive to South Partridge Point Road and Outer Drive. The plan is to allow for safer transportation for bikers heading into Alpena.
“We always welcome opportunities to extend non-motorized facilities for the benefit of all users of a given roadway,” James Lake, the communications director for MDOT, said.
The $900,000 project is fully funded by MDOT’s Carbon Reduction Template, a source of funding set aside each year for projects that extend pathways for bicyclists, pedestrians and more.
The pathway will be an 8-foot-wide trail alongside the highway. Supervisor for Alpena Township Abbi Kaszubowski said. Now, she said, cyclists have to bike on the side of the road to get into the City of Alpena.
“There are a lot of people who come from the South corridor and like to travel just either for leisure or traveling in to utilize any of the businesses on the 23 South corridor,” Kaszubowski said.
MDOT held a meeting at the Alpena Township office on August 6, to talk about the project with locals in the area. Only a few were in attendance. Lake said one of the concerns was the number of trees that would have to be cut down for the project.
“We’ve looked at a way to reduce the number of trees that would be necessary to be cut for it,” Lake said. “We would like to complete that tree clearing sometime this winter in preparation for production next year.”
Construction for the project will start next summer. Once the project is done, the township will be responsible for maintaining the path.
“This is a project that the Charter Township of Alpena has expressed interest in for several years now,” James Lake, director of communications for MDOT, said.
