The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • A1

Index Business A9 Classi eds A8 Comics A6 Entertainment A4 Features A7 Local A3 Obituaries A9 Puzzles A7 Sports A5 Nation A2 Television A7 Weather A10 To subscribe or report delivery problems, call 429-1396 The Newspaper for Southwest Michigan DEFENSE KEY FOR UNBEATEN U-M Sports, A5 K-9 cop gets donated vest Local, A3 FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2021 HeraldPalladium HeraldPalladium Weather High 34 Low 25 Getting closer every day By TONY WITTKOWSKI HP Staff Writer The U.S. 31 freeway ex- tension project and its con- nection to I-94 will see ma- jor construction this year. Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Nick Schirripa said the project is between 5 to 10 percent complete, as of this week. construction on I-94 is done. For 2021, see a whole lot of reconstruction on I-94 and the extension of U.S.

31. There are still some real- ly big pieces that need to be Schirripa said. theory is that by the end of 2021 we will be halfway U.S. 31, also called the St. Joseph Valley Parkway, now extends as a freeway to Napier Avenue in Berrien County.

The sudden end requires motorists heading northbound to travel west on Napier Avenue for near- ly two miles to reach I-94. Once the project is fin- ished, U.S. 31 will extend to I-94 at Exit 33 in Benton Harbor, completing a plan first announced in the mid- 1960s. This final leg of the project costing about $122.5 million has been roughly organized by year, over a three-year period. Work in 2020 involved the reconstitution of the I-94 business loop (Main Street) from Urbandale Avenue to Euclid Avenue, and converting the four- lane divided highway into three lanes from Urbandale Avenue to Crystal Avenue, and two lanes from Crystal Avenue to I-94.

Workers also have com- pleted the I-94 crossover construction and shoulder widening in preparation for 2021 construction. Schirripa said workers have finished the round- about at West Main Street and Crystal Avenue, which is part of the business line that heads into Benton Har- bor. Construction of a new Britain Avenue bridge over U.S. 31 is ongoing, Schirripa said. Work also began in Au- gust 2020 on another roundabout along East Main Street.

In 2021 MDOT plans to reconstruct westbound I-94; build cul-de-sacs on Empire Avenue on each side of U.S. 31 and cul- de-sacs on Highland Ave- nue on each side of I-94; complete the Territorial Road bridge replacement over I-94; Benton Center Photos by Don Campbell HP staff Work has begun on the new Britain Avenue bridge, located near Benton Center Road and Britain Avenue, which is part of the overall U.S. 31 extension project. Final push to finish U.S. 31 about done, with major work planned this year Traffic flows through a recently completed roundabout at West Main Street and Crystal Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.

Deal reached on project to protect lakes from invasive fish By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY Michigan, Illinois and a federal agency have agreed on funding the next phase of an initiative to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes by strengthening defenses on a Chicago-ar- ea waterway, of cials said Thursday. The two states and the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers will share pre-con- struction engineering and design costs for the $858 million project at Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois. The struc- ture on the Des Plaines Riv- er is a choke point between the Illinois River, which is infested with the invasive carp, and Lake Michigan. A plan approved by the Corps in 2019 calls for in- stalling a gantlet of tech- nologies to deter approach- ing sh, including electric barriers and underwater speakers that would blast loud noises, plus an bubble A special- ly designed ushing would wash away carp that might be oating on the wa- ter as vessels pass through.

The next step is develop- ing design and engineering speci cations, expected to take three to four years and cost about $28.8 million. Under the new agreement, the Corps will pay $18 mil- lion and Michigan $8 mil- lion. Illinois will chip in $2.5 million and serve as the required for such projects. The federal share of the design and engineer- ing funds still needs to be provided through annual Corps work plans, said Col. Steven M.

Sattinger, com- mander of the dis- trict of ce in Rock Island, Illinois. Both states will collab- orate with the Corps as it designs the complex mechanism, which will re- quire thousands of pages of drawings. Extensive research is still needed for some features, which never have been built to the scale that will be re- quired at Brandon Road, Sattinger said. not as easy as it he said during an online news conference. Four species of carp were imported from Asia in the 1960s and 1970s to clear algae from Deep South sewage ponds and sh farms.

They escaped into the Mississippi River and have moved north into doz- ens of tributaries in Middle America. Government agencies, advocacy groups and oth- ers have long debated how to prevent them from reaching the Great Lakes, where scientists say they could out-compete native species for food and habi- tat. The lakes region has a shing industry valued at $7 billion. Asian carp invade the Great Lakes, they would have a devastating impact on our sheries, tourism and outdoor recreation economies, and way of life across the said Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation. A shipping canal that forms part of the link be- tween the Mississippi and Lake Michigan has a network of sh-repelling barriers, which the Corps Vaccine waitlist established for people 65 and over By ALEXANDRA NEWMAN HP Staff Writer BENTON TOWNSHIP Berrien County residents 65 years and older can now put themselves on a waitlist to get the COVID-19 vac- cine.

The Berrien Coun- ty Health Department (BCHD) announced cre- ation of the waitlist Thurs- day. It is available on the department website, http://bchdmi.org/1745/ I 1 9 Va i -Information. The waitlist will allow the BCHD to contact people once they are able to start scheduling them for vacci- nation clinics. The state authorized local health departments to begin vaccinating those 65 years and older, starting next Monday, though BCHD of cials acknowledged Wednesday they currently do not have an adequate supply of the vaccine to start that group just yet. Berrien County is still focusing on Phase 1A of vaccine distribution, and anyone in that phase can ll out a similar form on the website, to be scheduled for a COVID vaccine.

That same webpage also outlines who exactly is in each phase and priority group, and allows people to sign up for the vaccine newsletter. As of Wednesday, 1,699 doses of the COVID-19 vac- cine had been administered Residents should fill out online form on website See BYPASS, page A10 See DEAL, page A10 See VACCINE, page A10 Trump finally concedes amid talk of ouster from office By JONATHAN LEMIRE and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press WASHINGTON With 13 days left in his term, President Donald Trump nally bent to reality on Thursday amid growing talk of trying to force him out early, acknowledging peacefully leave af- ter Congress af rmed his defeat. Trump led off a video from the White House by condemning the violence carried out in his name a day earlier at the Capitol. Then, for the rst time, he admitted that his pres- idency would soon end though he declined to mention President-elect Joe Biden by name or ex- plicitly state that he had lost. new administration will be inaugurated on Jan.

Trump said in the vid- eo. focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, or- derly and seamless tran- sition of power. This mo- ment calls for healing and The address, which ap- peared designed to stave off talk of a forced early eviction, came at the end of a day when the cor- nered president stayed out of sight in the White House. Silenced on some of his favorite internet lines of communication, he watched the resigna- tions of several top aides, including a Cabinet secre- tary. And as of cials sifted through the aftermath of the pro-Trump siege of the U.S.

Capitol, there was growing discussion of impeaching him a second time or invoking the 25th Amendment to oust him from the Oval Of ce. The invasion of the Cap- itol building, a powerful symbol of the de- mocracy, rattled Republi- cans and Democrats alike. They struggled with how best to contain the impuls- es of a president deemed too dangerous to control See TRUMP, page A10.