Dewey Street in Lapeer will be rebuilt this summer. Photo by Jeff Hogan LAPEER — There may not be much money in Lapeer’s local street fund to rebuild residential streets, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any orange and white construction barrels this summer in the city.

On Monday, the Lapeer City Commission is expected to award a bid to a contractor to complete five projects this summer that will be financed by local Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA) districts that capture increases in property taxes. The local TIFA boards allocated a percentage of the captured tax revenue toward local streets.

Street rehabilitation work will include base improvements, underdrain, curb and gutter repairs, drainage structure work and new asphalt.

Dewey Street off West Oregon and a section of Baldwin Road will be see major work, including pulverization of existing roadway as well as beefed up base before new asphalt is rolled on the badly deteriorated roads. Dewey Street serves residents that live in Arbors of Lapeer as well as Silver Maple Village apartments and residences on Charbridge and Lamoreaux Drive.

Lamoreaux Drive will be rehabilitated on both portions of Dewey Drive.

Baldwin Road will undergo a rebuild from M-24 to its southern city limits near the Taco Bell access drive. The Baldwin Road project is the only major street project slated for 2018.

Mansfield Drive, a subdivision located off West Oregon (west of Millville Road), will see work this summer as well. New edge drain, road base and asphalt will be constructed.

The fourth street to undergo work this summer will be Hartley Street, a dead-end residential street about a block long located off South Saginaw, south of the Lapeer Community Center. This street, said Lapeer Dept. of Public Works Director Pam Reid, will realize some rightof way improvements as well as a two-inch asphalt overlay when complete.

Reid said the base improvements and drainage improvements to the streets to benefit from construction this summer in Lapeer should make them durable for 30 years. “We’ve been aggressive for the last five years to find projects that will extend the life of our roads for many years,” Reid said.

In addition to the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects, Lapeer roads both major and residential will realize crack and seal work as well as slurry applications that put down a sealant mix designed to extend the life of the roadways.

In November 2017, voters rejected a sixyear, two-mill road millage proposal 383 to 359 — a difference of 24 votes. In November 2015 a similar proposed was defeated by a 17-vote margin, 527 to 510.

Despite the millage defeat Lapeer City Manager Dale Kerbyson said the city is making the most of the limited funds available to repair roads. He’s pleased the TIFA districts are committed to financing local road infrastructure. “They’re an excellent source of funding and we’re happy to have their support. The projects this summer are significant and they will help us to improve the condition of our roads,” he said.