Since the semester began, commuter students have found that their usual routes to NMU may no longer be accessible via a vehicle. With major construction on both Third and Fourth Streets, their daily drive may be a bit longer than they remember.

Eric Trudgen, a sophomore health and fitness major, said the construction has impacted how he drives in Marquette, especially on his way to his job at Econo Foods.

“When I’m going from school to work, [the construction] makes it a lot more difficult,” he said. “It depends on which way you go, but it sucks when there’s traffic so jammed up on Third (Street).”

The construction in town began in the third week of June, said Keith Whittington, Marquette city engineer.

However, even though some of the road construction in Marquette is finishing up this week, a few more projects are still underway.

“There’s another project going on at the same time. Arch (Street) down to Washington (Street) has all been milled off. We’ll be overlaying that within the next week or so,” Whittington said.

The city chooses which roads to reconstruct based on several factors, such as the age of the utilities running underneath the street, the surface condition of the street and the repair history of the area up for renovation, Whittington added.

Fourth Street was considered a full reconstruction project, meaning that all the utilities (water main, sewer main and storm sewer) and street structures were replaced, he said.

Work on Fourth Street. should be done within the next few days, he added.