Street closure signs and orange barrels are returning to Jackson with the official start of the street construction season. The City’s Engineering Division is planning 14 infrastructure improvement projects throughout the construction season, starting with the reconstruction of N. Perrine Street on Monday, April 17.
N. Perrine Street is a neighborhood street that connects Jackson’s east side neighborhood to the E. Michigan Avenue commercial corridor. Five blocks of the street from E. Michigan Avenue to Burr Street will get a new water main, lead service line replacements, fresh street surface and improved sidewalks. The current street condition is in a rapidly deteriorating condition and was last replaced 40 years ago. The water main underneath the street is nearly 100 years old. The majority of the project will be funded by federal funds.
The construction season will ramp up on Monday, April 24 with the planned start of a project on S. Brown Street. This busy street on Jackson’s west side will receive a new street surface and pedestrian trail. Crews will start the project by installing a new pedestrian trail on the east side of the street, providing connections to existing trails that take users to Downtown Jackson and the Cascades Falls Park. This section of S. Brown does not currently have a sidewalk, so adding a trail will bolster pedestrian access. Once the trail is complete, crews will turn their attention to resurfacing the street. Two-way traffic will be maintained throughout the construction project.
On the schedule to start on Monday, May 8 is a water main replacement project underneath a railroad crossing on Steward Avenue. This construction effort will close Steward to through traffic from Wildwood Avenue to W. Ganson Street, though residents in the area will still be able to reach homes. Crews will coordinate their water main work with the railroad so it does not impact train traffic. A detour will be posted.
The full 2023 construction schedule can be viewed on the City website. Residents should be aware that start dates and projects are subject to change. Two sizable railroad bridge replacement projects from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) continue in Downtown Jackson this year. Crews are working to fully replace train overpasses at N. Jackson and N. Mechanic streets. Both projects are expected to wrap up later this fall.