Say "goodbye to construction" and "hello to Isabella Road"

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Construction that began nearly five months ago, has finally finished on Isabella Road. “It is a great improvement and I am glad the road construction has come to an end,” said Luke Baker, CMU senior and Jamestown resident.

The project to widen Isabella Road between Broomfield Road and Bluegrass Road, to pave a section of road south of Bluegrass and also connect Isabella Road to U.S. 127 Business Route came to a conclusion Tuesday, Sept. 22.

“It was a very annoying process,” says Baker. “It would have been more practical to have finished construction before students moved back for the school year.”

Delays ranging from waiting for the right timing to government checks getting hung up during the state’s 2007 budget crisis, have created many “speed bumps” in the road construction process.

With many delays, the project has been long over due.

“It needed to be done,” said Baker. “In my last few years at Central I have seen more and more accidents occur on Isabella Road, that all could have been prevented if this project was done earlier.”

With the increase in traffic from the new retail complex on Broomfield, safety became a number one issue in finishing the project in a timely manner. Originally, the paving of Isabella Road and the connection to U.S. 127 was a part of the 2007 project to improve access to the new retail complex.

CMU senior, Martha Ruttman said, “I was concerned about my safety before this project began; to even visit friends that were in that area of Mt. Pleasant was a challenge.”

Now with the new improvements to the road, problems with traffic congestion and confusion of what is or is not a turning lane should be resolved.

“In the future, I am going to be using Isabella Road more for access to 127, to just get around Mt. Pleasant and avoid the large mess of traffic on Mission,” said Ruttman.

Total funds used on the whole project was $2,375,000, with $1 million from Governor Granholm’s job initiative program, another $375,000 for the widening of Isabella Road, $500,000 coming from the Michigan Department of Transportation and $500,000 from the Union Township for the project.

Improvements made are hoped to decrease accidents and traffic. “It’s much better now and I am glad that the construction is over,” said Ruttman.