Ilsa Minor | Daily Press Business owners, residents and community members attended a meeting Wednesday on the planned renovations to the east-end of Ludington Street that are slated to take place this summer.

ESCANABA — A planned renovation of the east-end of Ludington Street slated to take place this summer drew outcry this week from some residents who were concerned about the impact on businesses, summer events and cultural programs in the city.

“This all started as a sewer project,” City Manager Jim McNeil told the crowd that gathered at Escanaba City Hall Wednesday to hear about the project. “It was the Ludington lift station here and replacement of sewer. We’ve been able to bring in some other funds to do street restoration in it’s entirety.”

In addition to McNeil, the meeting featured a panel of individuals related to the project, including Escanaba Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi, Assistant Water and Wastewater Superintendent Mike Humbert; C2AE Project Manager Darren Pionk; C2AE Design Engineer Stacy Eagle; and Jim Perry, of contractor Oberstar, who attended via Zoom.

The Ludington Street project is broken into two parts, each of which will be completed in three phases over the next two years. The first part of all work will be upgrades to the storm sewer system, which is being upgraded to avoid rain water and snow melt from ending up in the sanitary sewer system. This is both to come into better compliance with environmental rules and to avoid over-stressing the wastewater treatment plant with additional water.

While the road is torn up to reach the sewer, the city will be making any needed repairs to other underground infrastructure and replacing lead service lines and water mains as needed.

Once the underground work is complete, the city will begin the process of restoring the street. On the east end of Ludington Street this will include a complete redesign of the roadway, including a vegetated median, a bike lane, colored and textured concrete walkways, and “bump outs,” areas where sidewalks jut into the roadway to increase pedestrian visibility for motorists and reduce the distance a pedestrian has to travel to cross the street.

The current phases of the project are expected to take about two years to complete. The first phase will include the area of Ludington Street that starts at roughly the lift station and runs to 4th Street, plus about 350 feet of North Third Street, which needs water and sewer work. That phase is expected to begin on or before May 1 and be substantially completed by July 30.

Phase 2, will begin at 4th Street and run until 6th Street. Because of the way contractors work on projects like the Ludington Street renovation, the two phases will likely overlap with Phase 2 set to be completed by Oct. 15.

Phase 3 will begin in 2026 and will continue the work from 6th Street to 9th Street.

During the work, areas of the street that are under construction will be closed to motorists. The closures — and the imprecise timelines — led some in attendance to be upset about how the lack of traffic and on-street parking could impact their business this summer and next.

“I have had weddings booked far and beyond your dates that you put forward,” said Tyler DuBord, who spoke as the general manager of the House of Ludington and not as a member of the Escanaba City Council. “That is hundreds of people for weddings this summer. How would you like me to resolve that? I can contact them and tell them that there’s no parking for 200 guests, and they may ask to cancel, and I could lose out of that revenue.”

DuBord, and others in attendance, were advised that parking would need to be moved to side streets or a block off during the construction work. Foot traffic should not be majorly affected, and the construction crews will be in contact with business owners to ensure that entrances and exits of buildings are still accessible.

Another concern was how the street closures would impact events, such as the Krusin’ Klassics Car Club Fun Run. This year marks the last time the parade will be held, but the closure at the east end of Ludington Street will likely impact the system the club has used to line up the hundreds of vehicles that participate in the event.

An answer for how the car club could reroute its parade lineup was not immediately given Wednesday, but McNeil indicated he would be in contact with the club to arrange for an alternative. The bulk of the parade is still expected to take place on Ludington Street.

Also of concern was the city’s Planet Walk, a scale replica of the solar system that pedestrians can visit as they make their way down the road. Thanks to city and community donations, the model was updated with new placards last year.

“We just spent $5,000 on that, and I want to thank the community, but we don’t want to screw it up,” said Dan Young of the Delta Astronomical Society.

Young asked to be alerted when the construction was going to take place so that the society could remove the placards. He also warned that the model of the sun would be more complex to remove and asked the city to be careful when removing the posts so everything could be reinstalled.

Young was told the city was already aware that the model solar system would need extra care in its removal but that it was not possible to know a more specific timeline of the project until construction began.

Wednesday’s meeting was held immediately prior to a separate meeting on the city’s lead service line replacement projects. Those meetings are currently being held on the first Wednesday of every month. City Manger Jim McNeil advised the crowd that additional meetings about the Ludington Street project may be held in conjunction with the lead service line meetings in the future to continue the dialogue with the city, contractors, engineers, and the public.