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Nearly 30,000 orange and white construction barrels will hit Michigan streets this spring as road-construction season begins. While you’re gritting your teeth at the sight of orange barrels choking three lanes of traffic into one on some highways, be happy that those barrels are helping a Michigan company.
Canton-based Poco, Inc. is the largest supplier of construction barricades to contractors in the state. The business was started in 1964 and is run by the founder’s son, Murry Powelson. Poco recently built a new 24,000 square foot facility to build barrels, arrow trailers and message boards.
While sitting in construction traffic is no more enjoyable in 2009 as it was in ’64, there’s less smog to choke down: old message boards and arrow signs used diesel generators running 24/7, unlike today’s solar-powered contraptions.
MLive trial 