Construction season is upon us; we've updated our cover photo to reflect it

With construction now fully in force throughout the village, we thought it would be time to update our cover photo here on the blog.

The trees have been removed, and the concrete is being cut up as a part of the streetscape project. The plan is for this phase to be completed by Memorial Day, which will work well for this year's parade.

We'll keep this photo up until more updates have been done, and a brand-new photo will look great once the downtown streetscape is completed.

We're also looking for new submissions for our Facebook cover photo. Right now, we've got one of the River Raisin on our cover, but we're always looking for new photos to feature. You'll be sure to see images celebrating the Chicken Broil, community fair and Riverfolk, too.

M-52 construction starts tomorrow; how do you plan to retain normalcy?

Utility workers dig near City Street earlier this year. The
MDOT construction project begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow kicks off the first leg of construction through Manchester that will engulf the village until November. Originally, the project was to begin next week, so at least the project is beginning early.

MDOT will begin its construction throughout the village beginning at the east end by the Village Hall tomorrow. The downtown streetscape project, which will revamp the look and feel for downtown, will start shortly after (more to come on downtown later).

We know businesses are working hard to make sure they aren't forgotten, but what about area residents? What are you planning on doing to keep business-as-usual during the construction?

An open letter to MDOT on the Adopt-a-Highway sign on M-52 (updated)

Dear Michigan Department of Transportation,

I gotta get this off my back, it's bugged me since before I began working at Heritage Media: this year, is it possible you could work and change the Adopt-a-Highway sign facing northbound M-52 and correct the spelling on it?

The Manchester Men's Club has sponsored two miles of highway on the road in Manchester Township. But, the sign has the name spelled wrong. Here's what it looks like:

I remember seeing it, and thinking "that's a strange way of spelling a group." But after seeing the sign pointing southbound closer to the village spelling it correct, I realized it was an error.

Perhaps this year when M-52 is being worked on in the village later this year (more on that later this winter/spring), someone could go down and correct it. I know MDOT's fixed other signs on the stretch several times closer to the village, and I'm sure the Men's Club would love to see the village's name spelled correctly.

Sincerely,
David Veselenak, Heritage Media online coordinator

P.S. While out on the road taking the picture of the sign, a man stopped and asked if I needed any help or a ride; he assumed my car had broken down and I needed help. I told him no worries, but thought it would nice knowing Michigan still has some pretty friendly drivers.

UPDATE: MDOT tweeted back at us this morning, saying they'll look into it and get it corrected:

@davidveselenak @HeritageNews Thanks for pointing out the misspelled AAH sign - we'll get this taken care of as soon as possible!

— Michigan DOT (@MichiganDOT) January 3, 2012