City of Sandusky celebrates MDOT's completion of downtown streets

SANDUSKY, Mich. - The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) joined the City of Sandusky in celebrating the reopening of M-46 and M-19 on Monday, Nov. 25. The city hosted a ribbon cutting event at the M-46/M-19 intersection to celebrate the recent reopening of these two roadways, which support commercial, commuter and tourism traffic. A video news release of the event is available on MDOT's YouTube channel.

"It's huge for our community," said Sandusky City Manager David Faber. "It's a reinvestment in our downtown. These roads have been here for a long time and they needed to be redone. We hope this project is a catalyst for our downtown, our redevelopment and bringing everyone to Sandusky."

This $26.4 million investment included rebuilding M-46 in the city of Sandusky, replacing storm sewer, upgrading traffic signals, replacing curbs, upgrading sidewalks, and safety improvements, as well as improving M-19 in the city of Sandusky. Based on economic modeling, this investment directly and indirectly supports 375 jobs, and was coordinated with the City of Sandusky's watermain improvements project.

"I know it was a lot for the community to handle during construction, it was pretty impactful to their main routes through town," said MDOT Transportation Engineer John DeLang. "But now that it's complete, we're hoping that it'll last a long time before we have to come back and touch it. Everyone we've talked to has been pretty happy with how it turned out and they're excited to see the new road going into Sandusky."

Next year, work will begin on resurfacing M-46 from the Sandusky east city limit to the Carsonville west village limit. That work is expected to be completed by November 2025.

City officials, contractor representatives and MDOT officials celebrate a ribbon cutting at the M-46/M-19 intersection in the heart of Sandusky.

An aerial view showcases the newly rebuilt M-46/M-19 intersection.