The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • 6

6A SUNDAY, August 24. 2003 FROM PAGE 1A New freeway will take less time, less stress than average time on the old highway that day. The high traffic volume on the old road more than 19,000 vehicles a day makes passing difficult and dangerous. Veteran drivers of old U.S. 31 tend to keep their place in the line of traffic, match speed with the other vehicles and wait for the ride to be over.

Ramos, resident engineer at MDOT's Transportation Service Center near Coloma, said motorists who switch to the limited-access freeway are likely to stoplight, they'll travel north 2 miles on M-139 and onto east-bound Interstate 94. Exiting the highway at the Napier Avenue interchange, drivers will face another stoplight before turning east on Napier to the college. This writer rode both routes last week with Michigan Department of Transportation engineer Lucio Ramos. On our ride, the travel time was about the same for both routes, but our ride wasn't typical. We went slower than the speed limit on new U.S.

'31 and we were able to make better are no stops until the end of the exit ramp at Napier Avenue. Traveling to the same destination on the existing U.S. 31 with its speed limit of 55 mph, motorists are likely to be stuck behind slower drivers on the two-lane US. 31 up to Michigan 63 in Scottdale. In addition, they'll pass numerous crossroads, driveways and business entrances and they'll often have to slow down or stop for other vehicles making left turns.

Once in Scottdale, where they're likely to be delayed by a- intersect) to Napier Avenue near Lake Michigan College in Benton Township would travel about the same distance on the old and new routes (10.7 miles the old, 10.6 miles the new way). But there's a drastic difference in what they'll encounter along the way. The new highway, with a posted speed limit of 70 mph most of the way, crosses rolling fields and orchards of Sodus and Benton townships, a scenic section of Berrien County never before touched by major highway. There 41 1 1 "At Nal Vaughan Stan A 9.5-MILE section of the U.S. 31 freeway will open to traffic Wednesday after ceremonies are held at this bridge carrying the road over the St.

Joseph River in Sodus Township. The new section extends the freeway from Berrien Springs to Napier Avenue in Benton Township. The new section of freeway will be 'a critical economic engine. The reason is a connection to (Interstate) 80-90 and completion of the business loop JEFF NOEL Cornerstone Alliance president save time, especially at peak travel periods in the morning and evening. At those times traffic old U.S.

3 1 can slow to a crawl. "I think it's going to be a help," Ramos said. MDOT projectsthat much of the truck traffic now using old U.S. 31 will shift to the freeway, which is scheduled to open between Berrien Springs and Napier Avenue on Wednesday. That should ease congestion on old U.S.

31 and make travel safer, officials said. piers and for other measures to safeguard the wetland. As a result, MDOT took another look at routes for the final section and last September released a supplemental environmental impact study. MDOT now prefers abandoning the original plan and connecting the new freeway with 1-94 at BL-94. A final decision is expected early in 2004.

Local impact Townships and villages on the path of the new freeway anticipate changes, and many have taken steps to try to ensure orderly growth. "We want to maintain agriculture and residential as much as we can said Sodus Township Super-, visor Tom Eversole. "But we know that from the interchange -on Sodus Parkway toward the cities will be growth." Sodus Township and several other local governments have approved a scenic 'management guide for the U.S. 3 1 corridor. Among the voluntary plan's goals are preserving the route's scenic beauty and keeping out development except where designated.

The plan also bans billboards. Eversole said township residents have expressed a mixed reaction iu uie ireeway opening to Napier Avenue. A longtime member of the Board of Review, Eversole said he heard more complaints in years past when MDOT was buying rights-of-way for the project. "We've had a few complaints at board meetings," Eversole said. "I think they (residents) understand that our board, and planning commission, is centered on the idea of keeping things quiet." The board has reviewed the township zoning ordinance with an eye on controlling development.

Also, a consulting company has been hired to do a "sketch. plan," a review of all ordinances on zoning. "People are kind of excited about the opening," he said. Jan Chaudoir, Berrien Springs village president, agreed. "I think it's very exciting," she said.

"Anytime we can relieve congestion in the village we feel excited." A lot of truck traffic stopped going through Berrien Springs after the freeway opened to old U.S. 31 northwest of Berrien Springs in 1992. But the village still has its share, and Chaudoir said she believes more of the commercial traffic will be gone when the next leg of the freeway opens on Wednesday. The change is not expected to hurt local said, and may actually help by bringing in people who want to use the less-traveled old U.S. 31.

Also, the freeway interchange northwest of town could encourage business development, Chaudoir said, Former state Sen. Harry Gast who worked tirelessly for years to move the freeway project forward, said its future effects are unknown. "But it's got huge potential," said Gast. "It's just hard to say. The area could be greatly enhanced by speculation and different people trying to make money out if it." Gast, who served 24 years in the Senate, has mixed feelings about the freeway and changes it may bring.

"It's kind of bittersweet in a way," he said. "I'm one of those "guys who think we lose some of what we've got when everything gets developed." An interstate highway shortens commuting time and makes rural areas more accessible to city dwellers who want more room. Development pressure can in turn drive up land prices, making it more difficult for farmers to stay in business and keep the land open. "I'm not sure if it's real good," Gast said. "It's progress, I guess." By SCOTT AIKEN H-P Staff Writer BENTON TOWNSHIP Compared with the old route, the new section of the U.S.

31 freeway will not cut much trav el distance for motorists. But, depending on the destination, drivers can be sure the freeway will sav them time. It also is bound to lower the stress of Motorists trav eling from northwest of Berrien Springs (where new U.S. 31 and old U.S. 31 U.S.

31 Squabbling betweeen local governments delayed the project in its early years hp Rprrien flrmntv Board changed its mind on the proposed route 3 times in 1 year r- 4 A rrom page i Old U.S. 31 between Scottdale and the U.S. 31 freeway interchange northwest of Berrien Springs has an average daily traffic count of about 19,600 vehi cles, very high for a two-lane road, MDOT says. When the freeway opens to Napier Avenue, the is expected to drop by 50 percent, said Paul South, manager of MDOT's Transportation Service Center in Coloma. The lower traffic volume should improve safety on old U.S.

3 1 and make travel easier for the- commercial trucks that shift to the-freeway, South said. The big drop in traffic won't occur immediately, but over six to eight weeks, he predicted. U.S. 31 in Berrien County is expected to have 20,000 to 22,000 vehicles per day. That compares with about 56,200 per day on 1-94 between Stevensville and the interchange with Interstate 196.

About 30 percent of the 1-94 traffic is trucks, South said. Unsafe at every speed Improved safety was the impetus for building a freeway to replace old U.S. 31. A 1976 MDOT sufficiency rating of old U.S. 3 1 showed the entire 18.4 miles from Niles to Benton Harbor as "critically deficient" in safety and handling more traffic than it was designed for.

Old U.S. 3 1 is a "free access" road, which means there are no limits on the number of driveways or other access points. Traffic is a mix of everything from passenger vehicles and commercial trucks to school buses and farm vehicles. Passing is prohibited in many areas, and the high traffic volume makes the practice dangerous, police say. Regular travelers on old U.S.

3 1 relate stories of collisions and many near misses. One traveler is U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, who in past years traveled the road to reach the South Bend airport. "There have been too many accidents," said the St.

Joseph Republican, who recalls that old U.S. 31 at one time had the highest accident rate of any two-lane road in Michigan. One horrific accident Upton recalls vividly was on Oct. 21, 1986, at a sharp curve on old U.S. 31 near the St.

Joseph River bridge in Berrien Springs. A semi-tractor trailer hauling molten aluminum to an Indiana auto plant overturned on a curve, spilling its load over an oncoming car and incinerating Terry Zick and Gary Banfield, both Michigan Bell Telephone Co. executives. "There are a lot of broken hearts on that road," Upton said. An economic boon A In addition, to making travel safer, officials say the US.

31 freeway in Southwest Michigan will open many economic development opportunities, particularly after the final piece of the highway is built between Napier Avenue and 1-94. (U.S. 31 continues north of the Twin Cities through west Michigan and reaches to the tip of the Lower Peninsula.) p' FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING champion Muhammad Ali and U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, in a 1 998 photo, hold a framed bumper sticker printed in the 1970s to promote construction of a freeway to replace dangerous U.S.

31 in Berrien County. Ali lives in Berrien Springs, where a new section of the freeway will open to traffic on Wednesday. Upton has worked for years to secure freeway funding. 'There have been too many accidents. There are a lot of broken hearts on that REP.

FRED UPTON On the Old U.S. 31 When the final leg is added, the new U.S. 31 will provide a connection between 1-94 and Business Loop and Inter-states 80 and 90, major east-west routes across Indiana and Ohio. Cindy LaGrow, executive director of the Berrien County Economic Development Department, said the U.S. 31 freeway will give area businesses direct thoroughfare connections to Indiana, Ohio and the southern United States.

One disincentive for businesses that rely on shipping has been the lack of a "straight shot" to the 1-8090 corridor, she said. Another problem, which MDOT may address in completing the last segment of the U.S. 31 freeway, is the partially com-. plete interchange between 1-94 and BL-94 in Benton Township. MDOT's preferred route for finishing the US.

31 freeway would swing the road northwest from Napier to hook into 1-94 at BL-94, a 2-mile section. The cost is estimated at $79.2 million to $82 million, which includes the large expense of finishing the BL-94 interchange. The business loop interchange, which now does not allow entrance or exit from two directions, would be completed. Jeff Noel, president of Cornerstone Alliance, the Twin Cities economic development organiza-' tion, said completion of the freeway has been at the core of Cornerstone's plans for years. "It is a critical economic engine," said Noel, who noted that the freeway's importance was spelled out in economic development studies completed in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

"The reason is a connection to (Interstate) 80-90 and completion of the business loop hookup," Noel said. "It really drives a connecting point in a way we've never had before." Cornerstone's efforts to redevelop the Edgewater area of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, the Elisha Gray Enterprise Park and other projects counted on having the freeway completed. A new road, Enterprise Drive, and a new bridge over the Paw Paw River will carry traffic from the redeveloped Edgewater area to Main Street in Benton Harbor, which is also the 1-94 Business Loop. Completion of the BL-94 interchange at 1-94 would provide a fast, efficient truck route.

Earlier this year, various business leaders and elected officials helped make the case to restore U.S. 31 to the state's list of new construction projects that will get future funding. Koepfle of the Southwestern Michigan Commission said it's important to make sure the project continues beyond Napier Avenue to completion. The temporary end point at Napier may not be sufficient for the traffic volume, he said. "According to the projections, we're going to.

overload Napier about as soon as it opens," he said. Through truck traffic on the U.S. 31 freeway will exit at Napier, then travel west two miles to the Interstate 94 interchange, and in a shortdistance reach 1-196 to the north. Along with the construction of the 9.5 miles of U.S. 31 for the section opening Wednesday, Napier Avenue was widened to accommodate the increased volume, and a new road named Sodus Parkway was built to act.

as a feeder. Many other local roads were also improved. A long time coming Over the years, periodic funding shortages, local government and citizen disagreements, law-; suits and an endangered butterfly have delayed a project that the state once hoped to complete in the mid-1980s. Upton said squabbling in the 1960s and 1970s over the route the freeway would follow around Berrien Springs was the major reason the project got behind the eight ball. In 1967, MDOT.

prepared a location study report that listed four possible corridors for the freeway from the state line southwest of Niles to a hookup with I-196 at 1-94 in Benton Township. But area residents disagreed sharply over whether the freeway should go west or east of Be'rrien Springs. The disputes were reflected in local government dccisions. During a one-year period in 1969-70, the Berrien County Board of Commissioners changed its position three times on Which route it favored, MDOT in 1972 pushed back the starting date from 1975 to 1 977, citing a funding shortage and lack of an environmental impact statement. In 1974, an MDOT engineering report recommended a route alignment to the west of Berrien Springs.

The action was immediately challenged in a lawsuit filed by a citizens group, but the matter was later resolved in favor of the state. Construction of a 3.3-mile section from the state line to U.S. 12 in Bertrand Township began in 1977 and was completed in 1979. The lack of funding and other problems stalled work in the early. 1980s, and the next section did not open until 1987.

Upton said the initial lack of local agreement hurt. "The state said we have a limited- number of dollars, and they will go where the communities have their act together," Upton said. Upton was first elected to Congress in 1986 and was appointed to the House Transportation Committee. He soon helped bring about a change in the Highway Trust that increased Michigan's return from 70 cents to about 90 cents on every dollar paid in. Upton has helped corral other funds for the project, such as money to build full interchanges on the stretch between Walton Road and oid U.S.

31. "I'm excited about it," he said of Wednesday's opening of the new section. "I've cut the ribbon in every other segment." Upton, an aide for former U.S. Rep. David Stockman in 1979, stood in at a ribbon-cutting that year.

Upton said he is confident that the money will be availablefor the final section of the freeway later this decade. In 1991 the project came to a near stop when an endangered butterfly, Mitchell's' satyr, was found living in the path of the proposed freeway route along Blue Creek in Benton Township. The butterfly did not delay work on the section of freeway that opens Wednesday, but it did set back planning for the final leg. After negotiations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Natural Resources, MDOT won approval to build across the fen Permission came with.some expensive requirements for long, untried bridges that did not use.