US-31 Bypass nearing completion after decades of delays

 

BENTON CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. – For years, the US-31 connection to I-94 and I-196 seemed like it would never be finished. Developed in 1979, the project stalled in the early 2000s, but now, forty-three years later, the project is finally nearing completion.

Congressman Fred Upton joked “They said it wasn’t going to happen in our life time, and I said ‘yes it will.’”

“I never thought I would see this day, where it would be built,” said Jim Martin, commissioner for Berrien County District 3. Martin was on the Benton Charter Township Board back when the project was halted, after the planned road was believed to impact the habitat of the endangered Mitchell’s Satyr Butterfly.

But after working directly with environmentalists and conservationists at the Sarett Nature Center, the state announced the project would be restarted in 2020, and now, the road is just about finished.

“It’s actually gone fast!” said Martin. “You wait for twenty years, and then suddenly, in two years, you see this.”

Local representatives and state leaders, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the project’s completion, which is set to make great impacts locally.

Benton Charter Township Supervisor Cathy Yates believed the increased access to bigger cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids and Chicago will help attract more businesses to the area.

“New things mean progress, and that is what Benton Charter Township is in the middle of—more progress: bringing in business, looking for more people to come, looking for people to come to work and live here. There’s all kinds of opportunities,” she said.

While the road won’t open to the public until November, area residents were given the unique opportunity to see the newly completed section—by walking or biking on the fresh pavement.

Niles resident Beverly Matiko said “When you’re walking, you see things that, when we get in our car and drive it, you just don’t have the chance to really take it all in, so this is a very nice thing they’ve organized.”