Road improvements will soon get rid of “Lake Lovinger,” a pothole that has plagued residents on Wolcott Street for years.
A $375,000 Small Urban Program grant given to Hillsdale by the Michigan Department of Transportation will fund improvements from State Street to Wolcott Street and Hillsdale’s western city limits. The Hillsdale City Council approved a contract with engineering firm Fleis and Vandenbrink to complete the improvements on March 16.
“We were awarded the project from MDOT to reconstruct about 1,350 feet of State Street,” acting City Manager Doug Terry said.
Work on the improvements will begin in March 2016. The city will pay all engineering costs including: design, contingency, and construction aspects.
Director of Public Services Keith Richard said the street’s decay means imminent improvements are critical.
The section of State Street from Wolcott Street to the western city limits was paved in 2004. Since then, the shoulders have eroded and the asphalt weakened. A six-inch hot mix asphalt base will replace the current structure, resulting in strengthened roads and less repairs in the future hopefully.
“The hill at the bottom of State Street will also have a lift station for stormwater, which will get rid of what people have jokingly called ‘Lake Lovinger,’” Richard said.
The lift station pump is designed to move water from the natural settling point at the bottom of the hill on State Street to a more level area, where the water won’t collect and threaten to flood homes.
“I am very excited about the lift station — the flooding doesn’t affect my property at all, but I know that it’s a big problem for the people who live down there,” Councilperson Brian Watkins said.
In addition to the road improvements, Richard explained that a shared-use path will be built on the green space near the Bob Evans off Wolcott Street and down to the ponds along the city limits.
Hillsdale has used the small, urban grant on similar road improvements before in 2013, 2012, 2010, and 2009, the largest of which is 2009’s $1.2 million grant to repave Mechanic Road.
