Michigan lawmaker pushes MDOT to consider economic impact of projects

NILES, Mich. --Construction that began the Monday after Memorial Day took many Niles residents and businesses by surprise, with many local neighbors having little notice about the construction project beginning. 

M-51 has been limited to one lane traffic- cutting off the ability for customers to be able to enter into local businesses, which in turn have been impacting businesses revenue. 

"How they specifically reach out to people, that's something that I'm really honing into, because I need to be able to help communicate with constituents on what's happening. When they're blindsided or feel blindsided, that's a big problem," says Michigan Representative Brad Paquette.

Paquette discusses the different criteria that they look for in project management, including constructability, cost, travel time, and work zone safety. Paquette is now pushing for MDOT to consider economic impact as well.

"Especially in projects such as this where you have a main artery going into a town and it gets turned into a one-way for a month, or longer weather contingent. You know, I think that's something that needs to be high up on the priority list."

The 27-million-dollar project is set to wrap up completely by this fall, with the first phase including the one-lane closure to be complete by the 4th of July.