News · Upper Peninsula
Portage Lake Lift Bridge narrows northbound Oct. 19–21; M-80 near Kincheloe closes Friday for a $300K culvert
HOUGHTON, Mich. — Drivers crossing the Portage Lake Lift Bridge between Houghton and Hancock should plan for single-lane northbound traffic next week while state crews repair damage from oversize loads, the Michigan Department of Transportation said.
Work is scheduled Monday, Oct. 19, through Wednesday, Oct. 21. Motorists should expect northbound M-26/US-41 lane closures each day until about 3 p.m., according to MDOT’s Oct. 12 release.
Crews will fix non-structural damage caused by high-load hits, and MDOT said the repairs will help keep the bridge operating safely and reliably. The Keweenaw Report noted the job is unrelated to the larger lift-span infrastructure work MDOT plans to detail in 2027.
Farther east, MDOT is also closing a stretch of M-80 in Chippewa County for a roughly $300,000 culvert replacement. Beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 16, M-80 will be closed between South Gaines Highway and M-129 near Kincheloe. The signed detour sends drivers around the closure via M-129 and M-28 to I-75.
MDOT expects to lift the M-80 detour Monday, Oct. 19, then keep intermittent lane closures for paving and related work. The department said M-129 is open again after a separate culvert job at Fletcher Creek. The M-80 project replaces a culvert that has reached the end of its service life and is expected to support about three jobs, based on MDOT’s economic modeling.
Drivers heading into the Copper Country or the Kincheloe area this week and next should watch for signs and allow extra time.
Sources:
Michigan Department of Transportation, “Portage Lake Lift Bridge repairs Oct. 19-21,” Oct. 12, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/news-outreach/pressreleases/2026/10/12/portage-lake-lift-bridge-repairs-oct-19-21
Michigan Department of Transportation, “M-80 culvert replacement in Chippewa County starts Oct. 16,” Oct. 7, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/news-outreach/pressreleases/2026/10/07/m-80-culvert-replacement-in-chippewa-county-starts-oct-16
The Keweenaw Report, “MDOT to conduct nonstructural damage repairs on the Portage Lake Lift Bridge,” Oct. 12, 2026, https://keweenawreport.com/2026/10/12/164070/
Photo: August Schwerdfeger, “Portage Lake Lift Bridge 2020-08-31.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portage_Lake_Lift_Bridge_2020-08-31.jpg
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