Construction Projects

In Portage, detour signs point to progress! Safe, quality roads make a critical contribution to a city's economic development and growth and bring about important social benefits. 

First-rate roads are important to business owners.  When a business is interested in expanding or locating in Portage, having good infrastructure is a great selling point.  Keeping roads in a superior condition also stimulates the local economy by providing work for local contractors.

A well-maintained, upgraded road network provides residents with access to jobs, schools, stores, and recreation, as well as social and health services.  Furthermore, better roads lead to savings in the way of travel time, gas consumption, and traffic accidents.

We realize that motorists and residents may be disrupted and inconvenienced during construction projects by detours, local road closures, dust, noise, heavy equipment traffic, and increased traffic on surrounding roads. However, when projects are complete, the benefits include reducing costly vehicle repairs caused by inferior roads, the number or severity of accidents, and congestion during peak travel times. 

Current City of Portage road construction projects under design and/or construction are shown below. Use the tabs to view current major and local street construction projects and view construction project news releases.

  1. Major Street Reconstruction
  2. Local Street Reconstruction
  3. Construction Project News Releases

East Milham Avenue Reconstruction Project, from South Westnedge Avenue to Portage Road.  The project includes water main installation, storm sewer improvements, traffic signal replacement, milling the existing pavement, upgrades of sidewalks and ADA ramps, new sidewalk and curb and gutter, paving and landscape restorations.

Contractor: Rieth-Riley Construction Company, Inc.
Engineer:  Abonmarche Consultants
Project Cost: $2,887,956 

Start Date:  April, 2021
Expected Completion Date:  August, 2021

Status:  All water main work has been completed. Work progresses on concrete curb and gutter and sidewalk replacement and lowering of castings and valve boxes in advance of paving operations, planned to begin late July. The replacement of traffic signals at Newport Avenue and Oregon Avenue is underway and the fiber extension to Portage Road has been completed. Construction will stop on Friday July 2 and resume Tuesday July 6, in commemoration of the 4th of July holiday. The project is scheduled to be open to traffic and restored by August 27th with landscaping complete in October.


East Centre Avenue - Portage Community Senior Center, at 203 East Centre Avenue. A new center will replace the existing Portage Senior Center and will feature a multipurpose room with a 330 seating capacity, a courtyard, an outdoor terrace, recreational and fitness spaces, a commercial kitchen, coffee shop, activities room, and a health clinic. The new building will be more than four times the size of the current center and will be available for community use as part of Portage Parks & Recreation programming and through facility rentals. A group of dedicated community leaders have been working to raise $5.5 million in charitable gifts as part of this unique public/private partnership with the City of Portage. The official ground-breaking was held on September 24, 2020.  Work is expected to be completed in November, 2021


Other Agency Projects

I-94 Construction in the City of Portage

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is starting a two-year project to widen I-94 from four to six lanes from Lovers Lane to Sprinkle Road in Kalamazoo, connecting expansion work completed in previous years along the corridor.  A video explaining the project is available on MDOT's YouTube channel.

Work is set to begin on April 13 with pavement repairs on westbound I-94 between Lovers Lane and Sprinkle Road. There will be nighttime single-lane closures on westbound I-94 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Tuesday, April 13, through Thursday, April 15, and again from Monday, April 19, through Thursday, April 22.

MDOT is investing $87 million to widen 2.7 miles of I-94 and rebuild the Portage Road interchange with a new alignment known as a single-point urban interchange (SPUI), similar to the I-94/Westnedge Avenue interchange. The project also includes rebuilding four bridges and one culvert, traffic signal upgrades, new signs, freeway lighting, and noise barrier installation.

This year, two lanes will be maintained in each direction on westbound I-94 while the eastbound lanes are rebuilt. There will be intermittent ramp and local road closures with posted detours during the project. For closure details, visit Mi Drive.

As part of the interchange realignment, the Kilgore Road bridge over I-94 and indirect left turn at Portage Road will be removed and the new Kilgore Road alignment east of Portage Road will use what currently is Kilgore Service Road.

Intermittent night and weekend work will be required throughout the project. Crews will suspend work in mid-November for the winter and resume in spring 2022. Rebuilding is expected to be completed in November 2022. Sign up for MDOT text or email updates at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDOT/subscriber/new. Subscribe to the "Kalamazoo County" category.

Source:  https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,4616,7-151-9620_11057-556490--rss,00.html


Construction on South Sprinkle Road

The Road Commission of Kalamazoo County (RCKC) will perform major construction on South Sprinkle Road between Milham Avenue and N Avenue. The nearly $2.5 million project covering 1.2 miles of roadway will primarily consist of surface milling, hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, and culvert work. 

A single lane in both directions is expected to stay open throughout the duration of the project. South Sprinkle Road will be utilized as a detour route for the Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT’s) I-94 project noted above. Please follow all posted detours. With the influx of detour traffic and reduced lanes, motorists should plan for traffic delays or find an alternate route.

Of the nearly $2.5 million cost, approximately $980,000 was secured through federal funding sources. The City of Portage contributed just under $300,000 to the project cost for watermain work, and the remaining balance is funded through Michigan Transportation Fund (MTF) revenue in the RCKC budget. 

Work is slated to begin on May 1 and to be completed by October 30, 2021. Work progress is always weather permitting. Motorists can stay up to date on construction by signing up for RCKC Connect alerts delivered via text or email.  Sign up at kalamazoocountyroads.com and click the “Notify Me” button or call 269-381-3171 for assistance.

Source: https://www.kalamazoocountyroads.com/userfiles/kcrc/news/Sprinkle%20Road%20Construction.pdf