The Allegan County Road Commission Jan. 14 green-lit Saugatuck and Laketown Township major road improvements for the 2025 construction season.
Roads deemed minor and private will be funded through the townships’ own millages.
The commission is responsible for snow removal, grading gravel roads, repair and general maintenance of county roadways as well as placement and upkeep of all road signs. It designs, engineers and contracts all township road improvements.
For Saugatuck Township, the county approved:
• Blue Star Highway will be renovated, crushed, shaped and resurfaced with hot mix asphalt (HMA) from 118th Avenue to the Douglas city limit.
• Old Allegan Road, chip and fog sealing from Blue Star to 58th St.
• Lakeshore Drive/130th Avenue, crack, chip and fog sealing from Old Owl Drive to the Douglas city limit.
• Riverside Drive/62nd Street, chip and fog sealing from Douglas city limit to 128th Avenue.
• Riverside to Dugout Road dead end, HMA millings overlay. From its own road dollars, Saugatuck Township will place HMA millings overlaying Riverside to the Dugout Road dead end, plus:
• 129th Avenue from 66th Street to dead end, 2 inches of HMA overlay.
• 65th Street from 130th to 128th avenues, two inches of HMA overlay. Laketown saw the county
OK work on:
• Blue Star Highway in Fillmore Township from 141st to 143rd avenues. It will be resurfaced and widened to include a center turn lane for a total of 1.13 miles.
• 64th Street in Laketown Township will receive crack, chip and fog sealing from Blue Star 6.06 miles to the Ottawa County line. From its own funds,
Laketown will resurface;
• 138 th Avenue from 60 th Street west to the cul-de-sac for $275,000;
•146th Avenue west of 66th Street and the Castle Park public roads for $245,000;
• Arlene Lane for $75,000;
• Resurface and repair the shared-use path on 147th Avenue from Wolters Woods Park to the west and on 64th Street for $250,000.
The township will also conduct four roadside mowings for $4,000 with two paid for by Allegan County; and apply dust control for gravel roads for $1,000.
Chip sealing uses a thin layer of liquid asphalt on the road surface followed by placing small aggregate chips on top. Fog sealing involves applying a thin layer of asphalt emulsion to an existing asphalt road surface.
Funding for the projects includes grants from the State of Michigan and revenue from the millage county voters approved last year. This county millage raised $4.3 million for improvements on local roads.
County projects are selected by evaluating pavement conditions through the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system, road history — such as when and how the road was built and paved, the last resurfacing or maintenance, and other considerations including traffic volumes, distresses such as poor soil and drainage, safety and cost.
Allegan County is responsible for 1,800 miles of roads and 154 bridges.
