Two MDOT projects recognized with regional AASHTO awards

Fast facts:

• Two MDOT projects have received regional awards from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
• Regional award winners will be entered into a national competition in September.
• MDOT's Superior Region was awarded for the US-41 Houghton rebuilding project while the North Region was recognized for the high-speed lane separation project on US-31/M-72 in Acme Township.

LANSING, Mich. ­- The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recognized two Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) projects as regional winners in the 2024 America's Transportation Awards competition. Projects nominated in this competition are making people safer, communities stronger, economies more efficient, and improving quality of life, all while using innovative technology to get these projects done better and faster.

The US-41 reconstruction project in Houghton won in the Quality of Life/Community Development, Small Project category. MDOT and the City of Houghton invested more than $9.5 million to rebuild 1.1 miles of US-41 from MacInnes Drive to Isle Royale Street. The work included converting the four-lane boulevard section of Townsend Avenue in front of Michigan Technological University's campus to two lanes with designated turn lanes at major intersections, widening College Avenue to add a center left-turn lane, and reducing from three lanes to two on the east end of Montezuma Avenue.

These changes have improved traffic flow and increased pedestrian safety. The City of Houghton updated sanitary sewer and watermain throughout the project as well. Work began in summer 2021 and was completed in 2023.

The high-speed lane separation project on US-31/M-72 in Acme Township won in the Safety, Small Project category. MDOT invested $1.5 million to build a center median island and repave US-31/M-72 between Holiday Road and Five Mile Road in response to an observed severe crash pattern on the 1-mile segment, which included three fatal and three serious injury head-on and sideswipe-opposite crashes from 2013 to 2017 attributed to high speeds, driver distraction and seasonal adverse weather conditions. This safety-funded project repurposed the roadway's four-lane, undivided cross-section to add a 6-foot-wide centerline buffer area with intermittent raised median islands. Guardrail, edge-line rumble strips and an inclement weather advance warning system were also installed to help mitigate the crash pattern.

Since completion of the project, data shows speeds have decreased with no fatal or serious injury crashes in that area. Work was completed in fall 2022.

Sponsored by AASHTO, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the America's Transportation Awards competition was created almost two decades ago to showcase the tremendous projects delivered by state DOTs each year in order to tell the broader story on the importance of transportation.

As regional winners, both projects will now be considered for the competition's Top 12, which will be publicly announced in early September. These 12 projects compete for two top prizes: the Grand Prize, chosen by an independent panel of judges, and the People's Choice Award, determined by the public through online voting. Both carry a $10,000 cash prize to support a transportation-related scholarship or charitable cause. These will be announced at the AASHTO Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this October.