The Berrien County Road Department is preparing for the replacement of a culvert that washed out in April. Heavy storms caused the culvert underneath Point O’ Woods Drive in Benton Township to fail, washing a large section of road and sand away. That required the road department to set up a detour for 14 homes nearby. Speaking to colleagues Thursday, Berrien County Commissioner Jim Curran said the administration committee was briefed this week and told the pieces of the replacement culvert have now arrived.
“It is 18 feet high, 80 feet long, and the total cost of that project ended up being $1 million,” Curran said.
Berrien County Road Department Director Mark Heyliger tells us the cost is actually a little shy of that, at about $850,000. The pieces of the culvert were brought in this week by multiple trucks and took about two months to make. The road department is working with a contractor to now install the new culvert, something Heyliger hopes to have done by Memorial Day next year.
