Possibly related:

Road opens earlier than expected

Hazards of the holiday

Fire experts warn Mich. residents of fireworks safety

Vacant downtown space to house tech companies

Word on the street

MDOT to cut back on summer projects

The Michigan Department of Transportation will be offering fewer road maintenance activities such as lawn mowing, shoulder and curb sweeping and litter pickup for the rest of the fiscal year.

These cutbacks will amount to about a 20 percent decease in the department’s summer maintenance budget, according to a press release.

Also included in the cutbacks will be the Summer Youth Corps program, ditch cleaning and brush removal, as well as a hiring freeze on maintenance personnel where vacancies currently exist.

This winter, costs for snow and ice removal exceeded the average budget of the last five winters by about $18 million, causing many of the cutbacks.

The department will continue most of its duties, including pothole patching, emergency repairs to bridges, janitorial maintenance and trash removal for rest areas and roadside parks.

Published on Wednesday, May 14, 2008