EDWARDSBURG — Residents of Edwardsburg know that every drive down US-12 is an adventure: There are cracks in the pavement to look out for and an impossible amount of potholes to try to avoid.

“It’s just sad how it’s gotten to this condition,” said Jerry Marchetti, the Ontwa Township supervisor. “It’s absolutely dangerous. We’ve had a couple of instances where people have blown out their tire or need some front end work done. It’s just bad.”

But that should change soon.

Jim Woods with the Michigan Department of Transportation met with residents at the Ontwa Township Hall at 6 p.m. Monday to present and discuss a US-12 roadway project that will begin on June 25. Construction is scheduled to run through Oct. 5.

The roughly $1.5 million project is expected to make serious improvements to US-12, starting at the railroad crossing just before M-62 and going 0.92 miles west, past Edwardsburg Schools. The overall project description includes milling and resurfacing, doing some work on the concrete curbs, gutter, sidewalk and drains. Pavement marking and some signs will also be added or replaced.

Funding for the project is coming from the state and federal government. According to Woods, a project of this magnitude has not been done on this stretch of road in more than 15 years.

“It was planned a few years ago, and then when I came in as supervisor the road was so bad I said, ‘Can’t you move it up a year,’” Marchetti said. “They said, ‘No, it’s contracted.’We never got any kind of agreement. So I was thinking maybe we could pay it ahead of time… and they could reimburse us [next] year. I found out what the project was — I was thinking it would be a $100,000, $150,000. When they said it [would cost] $1.5 million, I thought ‘well, that leaves us out.’”

Construction will be done in stages. Stage one will run from June 25 until August 9. This stage will include milling and resurfacing. During this time, one lane will be open and road flaggers will keep traffic flowing.

From Aug. 9 through 13 there is a work restriction due to the US-12 Statewide Garage Sale, so no construction will be done at this time.

Stage two will begin after the garage sale and run through Aug. 24. This will include reconstructing the railroad crossing on US-12 near M-62. During this time period, traffic will be detoured away from the construction.

“We will have barricades all the way across it,” Woods said. “The railroad will be torn out. It will be a big hole.”

During stage two, workers will also complete drainage improvements, sidewalk ramps and HMA resurfacing.

The top layer of asphalt will be laid during stage three, and the roadway restoration should be complete — with the exception of the grass on the side of the road. MDOT will monitor this through May 15, 2019.

“After Oct. 5, there shouldn’t be any lane closures,” Woods said. “We will pick all of the barrels up. The signs will be picked up, you won’t even know were still there. You might see my truck down here evaluating the grass.”

During stage three, there will once again be one lane open at a time with flaggers managing traffic, but construction will only happen from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to avoid conflicting with school traffic as much as possible.

“We won’t have any lanes closed when school starts in the morning, and then at 9 o’clock well put out equipment: the barrells and the signs,” Woods said. ”By 3 o’clock when they are trying to get home, they’ll probably have to wait a little bit, but there will be people on those roads letting people out, with a walkie talkies talking to each other. It shouldn’t be a big deal because getting home isn’t as [much of a rush] as getting to school.”

For more information on the roadway project, plans are at the Ontwa Township Hall.