The Leelanau County Road Commission will begin reworking the intersection of Newman and Kasson Center roads in Kasson Township starting the week of Oct. 21.
According to Road Commission Engineer Craig Brown, they have been receiving calls regarding safety concerns here from state police, township officials, and residents.
Currently, northbound traffic has no restrictions on movements, but the other three ways must stop. In March, this intersection was the site of a serious car accident where a westbound vehicle failed to yield to a northbound one. Fortunately, Brown’s report says, the drivers and any passengers did not need medical attention, but both vehicles sustained “disabling damage.”
“The intersection is huge, and the southeast quadrant has an approximate 140-foot radius,” Brown said at the road commission’s meeting this Tuesday. “We plan on cutting the intersection back to a standard-size intersection in order to make it safer.”
Per discussion at the Oct. 1 road commission meeting, staff will notify the township and local gravel companies of the changes before removing a large area of pavement to the southeast of the intersection in about three weeks.
Brown also said that crews are wrapping up culvert replacements on County Road (CR) 626, Omena Road. The cut sections have been graded with gravel, which will remain loose and settle over the winter. Brown’s report says they are waiting to pulverize the gravel until next year after work on another section is completed.
Road Commission Managing Director Brendan Mullane said the road commission plans to use two years’ worth of Rural Task Force program funds and a significant portion of their own budget on improvements to the next section of CR 626, to be completed next summer.
Since this project will use federal dollars, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) needs to manage the bid process. The road commission authorized MDOT to bid out the project at their Tuesday meeting.
The road commission board of commissioners also opened public comment periods in response to petitions by residents to abandon Whittaker Road in Bingham Township and Lawrence Road in Suttons Bay. Mullane explained that this effectively means the road commission would no longer maintain the roads and they would become private property.
Hearings on the two petitions will be held at the road commission’s next meeting at the Suttons Bay garage on Oct. 15 at 9 a.m., with possible board decisions to follow.
Mullane also reported during the meeting that the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners is advertising to find replacements for the late Road Commissioner John Popa, who passed away Sept. 5 due to complications from a UTV accident the previous month.
The county board of commissioners is expected to appoint a new person to carry out the remainder of Popa’s six-year term, which expires Dec. 31, 2026, at their November regular session, Mullane said.
