As the city of Buchanan wraps up a more than $20 million infrastructure project downtown, it’s asking business owners and residents to take it easy on the concrete this winter.

City Manager Tony McGhee tells us in the past few weeks, contractors have poured the equivalent of about 18 blocks of concrete in the area. Now that snow has returned to Southwest Michigan for the season, the city’s put out word the new surface shouldn’t be treated with certain deicing or melting agents.

“With new concrete, salt has a bad reaction to it and it causes the surface to become scarred and spalling occurs,” McGhee said. “So for the first winter, we’re asking the downtown property owners not to put salt on this new concrete we have.”

McGhee says the city is taking alternative actions to ensure the streets and sidewalks are safe.

“So what we’re going to be doing is we will be purchasing calcium carbonate to put down to give to every store owner so they don’t have the need to feel the use off this winter. So everybody will have that available for the use and we will also be putting on ourselves.”

McGhee says this will apply for the entire winter. Hopefully, the concrete will remain in pristine condition come spring.

Meanwhile, the city is planning a ribbon cutting ceremony for the big downtown project next Friday, November 21 at 10:30 a.m. Everyone will gather at the intersection of Front Street and Days Avenue to mark the end of a massive project that was years in the making.