The Van Buren County Road Commission has been awarded a state grant to resurface Kalamazoo Street in South Haven from Blue Star Highway north to the South Haven city limit.

Road Commission Managing Director Bret Witkowski tells us the work will include milling the existing surface, asphalt paving, curb and gutter replacement, and installing new pavement markings. The road is important to the South Haven economy.

“It’s a connection between Blue Star and the city of  South Haven, and it’s got a lot of truck traffic on there because it’s their their industrial area for the city,” Witkowski said. 

Kalamazoo Street is part of a truck route allowing commercial traffic access between the city of South Haven’s industrial areas and Blue Star Highway. Commodities typically hauled in the area include concrete, landscaping materials, steel, vehicle parts, and plastics.

Witkowski says maintaining the roads in areas used by industry sends a good message.

“To me, having good roads means communities are on top of things, taking care of things, and it sends a good message to developers from housing to commercial to industrial that you will invest in the community. If you have poor roads and things like that, that sends a bad message to developers too.”

Witkowski says the road commission has been aggressively pursuing grants in the last year, securing around $8 million for road projects.

The state Transportation Economic Development Fund grant for the Kalamazoo Street work is about $100,000, while the project’s total cost will be about $125,000. Witkowski says anytime the road commission can quadruple its own money, it’s going to go for it.