The Michigan Department of Transportation has made some changes to its plan for reconstructing Main Street in downtown St. Joseph in 2027.
MDOT held its fourth open house on the project in St. Joe on Monday for residents to learn the latest and offer their input. Spokesperson Nick Schirripa tells us there are two new things to report since the last open house. The first change involves the left turn lanes.
“We’ve gotten rid of some of left turn lanes and added pedestrian crossings and gotten rid of other pedestrian crossings and put in left turn lanes,” Schirripa said. “So we’ve made some adjustments there to help what the community wanted to see long term in terms of mobility through downtown.”
Schirripa says the other big news to share about the project is the construction schedule. Previously, they were debating whether to do a total closure of Main and get the work done in one year, or to do a partial closure and take two years. Schirripa says they’ve settled on the total closure with one year of work.
“It’s going to be staged, it’s not going to be the whole length all at one time. It’s going to be in pieces. And the goal is to start in the fall of 2027, and by Memorial Day of 2028, be done with the downtown piece. So that’ll be done and reopened by the time the tourist season starts.”
There will still be a little to do beyond that in 2028, but Schirripa says the big stuff will be out of the way.
Schirripa calls this a once in a generation project that will affect the area for 30 or more years into the future. So, MDOT wants to get it right.
The plan is to rebuild the M-63/I-94 Business Loop and change Port Street and Ship Street to two-way streets. They’re one-way now. Schirripa says that change will ensure a greater volume of cars can travel through the area more efficiently.
