Village of North Branch awarded grant to replace sinking manhole covers on M-90

NORTH BRANCH — The days of standing water in downtown and sinking manholes will soon be over for the village of North Branch.

The village has been awarded a Michigan Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in the amount of $90,660.

“I was real happy about it,” said Kelly Martin, village president.

Officials applied for the grand last spring in order to fix a problem that has plagued the village for as long as Martin can remember.

Simply put, the storm sewer, located on M-90 “is not big enough to handle all the water that drains into it,” said Martin.

After a heavy rain or a big thaw, standing water is left on Huron Street in downtown and businesses, like Orr Hardware have flooded.

Manholes in North Branch also have been sinking into the ground because of the overtaxed storm sewer.

The sewer improvements will cost about $120,000, and the village will cover about 25 percent of the cost out of a couple of street accounts.

Martin expects construction, which will only take a couple of weeks, to be begin in the spring.

“We’re grateful,” said Martin. “It’ll be nice to have this problem behind us instead of in front of us.”