An almost $400,000 project will realign where E Bar D Road meets Lake Antoine Road and do major repaving on E Bar D. (Betsy Bloom/Daily News photo)

BREITUNG TOWNSHIP — Work is expected to begin next month on an almost $400,000 project to realign and repave E Bar D Road off Lake Antoine Road.

Bacco Construction of Iron Mountain will be the contractor after submitting the low bid of $381,710.30. They likely will start in mid-September, with the goal of having it completed by Nov. 1, said James Harris, Dickinson County Road Commission managing director.

The project will crush, shape and pave about 3,000 feet of E Bar D Road from where it meets Lake Antoine Road to where the paved portion now ends.

The junction also will be shifted and a hill cut done to reduce the grade and square it with Lake Antoine Road, Harris said.

“Right now, it’s skewed,” he said of the junction, adding that visibility after the realignment is completed should be “much improved.”

Road Commission crews already had begun clearing trees in advance of the project and will cut the rest in early September, along with stump and boulder removal.

The one-way road will get a cul-de-sac as well so larger vehicles, such as school buses, have room to turn around, Harris said. Some residents had voiced concerns at a recent Breitung Township Board meeting about buses and trucks now having to use their driveways.

More than 20 homes could be seen from E Bar D Road on Sunday; mailboxes indicated others farther back and not visible.

E Bar D Road improvements have been a long time in the making, officials observed while discussing the project. At a special meeting in 2016, property owners on the road were hesitant to have trees cut down, so the township moved ahead with other plans.

This year, most residents agreed E Bar D has deteriorated to a point where something needs to be done. At a meeting in February, Harris noted many of the trees property owners didn’t want cut down in 2016 have now died of oak wilt. Harris said removing trees would allow the sun onto the road, drying it faster and making it safer for motorcyclists and pedestrians.

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Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.