Workers from Star Construction and Coffman Construction began pulling up railroad tracks at 12th Avenue and Hatcher Street on Monday, the beginning of a project to make the intersection easier for heavy trucks to use.
City Engineer Keith Beatty said the workers will also be lowering the grade of the intersection.
“That way, Dolly Madison has another way out,” Beatty said. “And in the long run, we’ve got Detroit Diesel over there now in that (industrial) park, and there’s Better Life Technology and others that will use that roadway.”
Dolly Madison’s trucks have only one usable exit from the plant at the intersection of 15th Avenue and Industrial Road. All the other roadways are navigable by a car but not by a semi.
That became an issue last May when a retail development company asked to rezone the former Modine building nearby for commercial use. At that time, Dolly Madison plant manager Mike Reiber said that traffic was already bottlenecked in the area by the number of semis using the intersection. To add a retailer without making any imporvements, he said, would only make matters worse.
“It’s great that someone is interested in the Modine property,” Reiber said at a city forum in May. “But as manager, I can’t let it happen at our expense and our risk.”
Beatty said the 12th and Hatcher improvements will cost about $150,000. He estimated the project would take 30 to 40 days to complete, weather permitting.