Up North Progressive

UPDATE: As of this morning, the sign now reads exit 176.

There is an update to the story about the sign that leads people to an exit that doesn’t exist on US 131, and it involves a tragic event. Up North Progressive shared the story about the misprinted sign in Wexford County on US 131 with the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Facebook page. They were amazingly prompt with their response on March 7:

Interesting – thanks for the heads up. We’ll check in with the Cadillac TSC.

Thanks for following MDOT!

You’re welcome! About eight hours later there was an update from MDOT:

Got some more info on that sign for you. The private company contracted by MDOT to install those blue accommodations signs is well aware of the issue. In fact, the company had plans to get it replaced until a terrible crash occurred recently, killing one of the contractor’s workers. Things have been on hold for awhile but it will be taken care of.

MDOT provided a link to the story about the crash, in which it’s revealed that the worker who died in the crash lost his life while working near the exit 176 ramp. Sean Jordan was from Holly. He died when he was struck by a semi on February 8, 2016. the driver of the truck was taken into custody, but all charges against him were dropped on March 8. The Wexford County Sheriff’s Deputy makes an insightful comment:

You usually don’t see construction workers in the wintertime on the side of the road, working on signs or doing road construction.

The private company Jordan worked for is Action Traffic Maintenance in Flint. There are plans in the future to replace the sign with the correct exit number on it, but that has yet to happen, and the fatality is part of the reason for the delay.

Condolences to the family of Sean Jordan.