MARQUETTE, MI-- The City of Marquette continues to seek funding to address the frequent closure of Lakeshore Boulevard between Hawley Street and Fair Avenue during storms.
Community Development Director Dennis Stachewicz says in high winds water breaching the stone barrier covers the road and causes erosion. If nothing is done, Lake Superior will eventually consume the roadway.
Stachewicz says n 2014 the city worked with the Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Zone Management, the Superior Watershed Partnership and other partners to develop the Lakeshore Boulevard Relocation and Shoreline Restoration Project. It entails moving that portion of the roadway 300 feet inland and constructing dunes and swales at the lakeshore.
“And then a replacement rock armor revetment that was engineered properly for the current, in such a manner that when the water comes over it would set in the dune/swale complex. It would be a better situation for the environment as well with some natural restoration,” he says.
Stachewicz says the city for years has been looking to the Army Corps of Engineers to pay the $12- to $13-million-dollar project, but the Corps just hasn’t had the federal funds. He notes the Corps admitted some years ago that lengthening the break wall at the Upper Harbor many years ago created a change in current flow, which has increased erosion. Stachewicz feels Marquette deserves funding because of that fact.
Another funding option includes putting the former Cliffs/Dow site into private hands and using Brownfield Redevelopment monies.
Stachewicz says city officials will do capital improvement and strategic planning this year, and he expects the fixing of Lakeshore Boulevard to be a hot topic.
To view the project go to marquettemi.gov, click on Community Development, Planning, and Current Planning Projects.
