A local building in the final stretch of construction.

MARQUETTE– It’s on budget, on time, and includes a design perfect for U-P winter operations. The Marquette Municipal Service Building has reached the halfway point of construction.

In-floor heating is currently being installed in the main vehicle garage. According to Director of Infrastructure Mike Steelman, this creates a more uniform heat, helps dry off plows, and eliminates slip hazards. The project will use nearly 27 miles of tubing. Other accommodations include trenches to eliminate exhaust, and a weld bay double the size of the previous garage. Steelman said larger weld bays come in handy during snowstorms to quickly fix plows.

“There’s still outside work to do, a little more roofing to do, and then of course the outside finishing work for the panels for the administration area needs to be done,” Director of Public Works and Utilities Curt Goodman said. “So there will definitely a lot of landscaping to do, of course that will be done in warmer weather. A lot of labor is from the U.P., so we have been able to really use the U.P. workforce for this project.”

The building will also have multiple conference rooms, two receptionists, and two locker rooms that each accommodates 60 workers. Drivers will exit on a new road leading to Sugarloaf Avenue. There will be no left turns onto Wright Street.