Laketown Township is planning to spend almost $1.3 million on road projects in 2024 including paving on shared-use paths, resurfacing and mowing.
The township board unanimously approved the proposed work at the Wednesday, Oct. 11 meeting.
The estimated $1,260,000 covers:
- $480,000: Resurface three miles of 145th Avenue from 60th Street to 66th Street.
- $40,000: Resurface 61st Street from 147th Avenue north to the Holland City limits.
- $235,000: Resurface with asphalt and repair shared-use path on 147th Avenue from Wolters Woods Park, 6281 147th Ave., west and on 64th Street.
- $500,000: Construct shared-use path on Blue Star Highway from Shangrai-La Mobile Home Community to the Michigan Department of Transportation park-and-ride.
- $4,000: Four roadside mowings, two paid by Allegan County.
- $1,000: Dust control for gravel roads.
The projects are part of the township’s seven-year road work plan the board approved in June.
The township doesn’t own roads – the county does – but the township does pay for maintenance and repaving work. Work is funded through a 2.0-mill voted levy for the fire department, roads, bike paths and drain work.
Blue Star path
Construction of a new shared-use path along Blue Star Highway was scheduled for this year, but bids came in 30 percent above what was expected so the township put the plan on hold for a year in hopes of getting better prices.
The project is just less than a mile long on the south side of the road from the Shangrai-La Mobile Home Community, 6180 Blue Star Highway, to the Michigan Department of Transportation’s park-and-ride site at Exit 41 off I-196.
The shared-use path will help connect a recreationally and infrastructurally underserved area of the township with transportation options and an area-wide path system.
The long-term plan for the Blue Star path is to eventually link with that 64th Street path and the Saugatuck Township portion of the Blue Star Trail, a 20-mile paved non-motorized path between Saugatuck and South Haven.
Much of the funding for the project is coming from grants. That money is secure and will be available next year.
Looking ahead
The proposed road plan includes a look ahead to 2026 with $600,000 allocated to design, engineer, reconstruct and surface less than a half-mile of 61st Street north of 138th Avenue. The dead-end road is now unpaved.
The project was listed to give the Allegan County Road Commission early notice of the major project.
“We’ve not reconstructed a road in a long time,” said township Manager Al Meshkin.
If the township board decides in the future that it does not want to do the reconstruction, it can delay it.
The township has three gravel roads.