Wednesday morning, shortly after 10 North Michigan Road, between Plymouth and LaPaz opened after being closed since March. A couple dozen citizens, including business owners and property owners along the construction project attended the ceremony.
The INDOT project included the removal of the bridge that use to transfer north bound traffic from Michigan Road to US 31 and creates a new 3rd Road that will allow traffic to go east off Michigan Road. The roughly $2 million dollar project was delayed about a month due to a special pipe that had to be ordered for drainage and heavy rain.
Ronnie McCartney from LaPaz and a town council member had the honors of cutting the ribbon. McCartney said, “This is a grand moment, long in the making. We all appreciate having the thoroughfare open again.” He went on to welcome everyone back to LaPaz.
This project was part of the agreement between Marshall County and the State of Indiana for the relinquishment of the road to the county and the Town of LaPaz. The project isn’t complete. There is more work that needs to be done on 3A road before the contract is complete.
Once the contract is complete the county will take ownership of the 4 lanes according to County Commissioner Kevin Overmyer. He anticipates taking control of the roadway early this fall.
Overmyer said the county has not immediate plans for road work on the former state highway. He did say he expects they will have to chip and seal the surface in the not too distant future.
