Consultants and the Grand Traverse County Road Commission are continuing to explore three options for a long-discussed bypass over the Boardman River – but as a public outreach session this week made clear, the project faces numerous hurdles including costs that range in the tens of millions of dollars, routing challenges, environmental and residential impacts, and skepticism from residents and community groups.

The Grand Traverse County Road Commission has hired OHM Advisors to guide the organization through a planning and environmental linkages (PEL) study, a federally mandated process when making transportation decisions like building new roads. The PEL aims to identify a new possible crossing over the Boardman River and analyze the impacts of the route, ranging from cost of construction to land acquisition requirements to environmental, social, and economic effects. On Tuesday, OHM presented findings that included advantages and disadvantages for three potential bypass options at a public meeting at the Networks Northwest Conference Center.

Each route connects Keystone Road to US-31 over the Boardman River. Cost projections and pros and cons for each route are as follows:

Option 1: Hartman-Hammond Crossing
Projected Cost (2021 Dollars): $81.4 million. Construction cost per vehicle: $3,700.
Description: This route would require construction of a new causeway bridge over the Boardman River valley to connect Hammond and Hartman roads. The bridge would need to have “a very long span” – at least 1,500 feet – and “have to be very high” to cross the valley, according to Stephen Dearing of OHM. Hartman could either end on US-31 at a redesigned intersection with McRae Hill Road or jot over to Silver Pines Road, though Dearing noted the final US-31 ending point for any of the three routes would likely be somewhere between McRae Hill and Silver Pines.
Pros: As the route closest to South Airport Road, Dearing said this option would offer the most traffic relief, reducing traffic on South Airport by 37 percent by 2045 compared to a no-build scenario. Hartman-Hammond also requires the least acquisition of new right-of-way (90 acres compared to 100+ acres for the other two options) and would improve “network resiliency” by offering a new river crossing that could handle rerouted traffic from other roads in the event of a major accident or weather event.
Cons: Besides being the most expensive option, Hartman-Hammond would also have environmental and parkland impacts, affecting four acres of forested/wetland areas compared to roughly 3.5 acres for the other two options.  “Obviously crossing the Boardman River Valley is an impact,” Dearing said. The project would displace 14 residences and three businesses, though those figures are lower than the other options.

Option 2: Sabin Dam Crossing
Projected Cost (2021 Dollars): $59.2 million. Construction cost per vehicle: $5,300.
Description: This route starts at Birmley Road and crosses Cass and Dracka roads, snaking up to Silver Pines Road at US-31. The route would still require a bridge, though at 350 feet the river crossing would be roughly one-quarter the size of Hartman-Hammond.
Pros: The route crosses the valley in an area where land has already been disturbed due to dam removal work, Dearing said. There are fewer wetland impacts than Hartman-Hammond, while still offering network resiliency through a new river crossing and reducing traffic on South Airport by 22 percent.
Cons: The Michigan Department of Transportation has made it clear that the railroad in the Keystone corridor is “off limits,” Dearing said, meaning any widening to accommodate a new crossing would have to occur to the west. “That’s where all the homes are,” he said. Crossing at Sabin would displace 21 residential homes and six businesses. The crossing also conflicts with Grand Traverse Conservation District plans to construct a new pedestrian bridge over the former dam area to create a connected trail loop through the nature preserve. Dearing did note that all three crossing options were conceived as including pedestrian sidewalks in addition to vehicle lanes.

Option 3: Cass Road Crossing
Projected Cost (2021 Dollars): $53.8 million. Construction cost per vehicle: $7,700.
Description: The third option utilizes existing infrastructure at the recently rebuilt Cass Road bridge by crossing from Keystone over Cass, Broad, and Dracka roads up to Silver Pines Road. The Road Commission could potentially take the existing Cass Road bridge and widen it to accommodate more lanes, or else build a parallel structure so the route can expand from two lanes to four or five.
Pros: The route has the lowest estimated construction costs and fewest environmental impacts. It is projected to reduce traffic on South Airport Road by 11 percent. It is also rated as “good” at avoiding habitat fragmentation, while the other two options are rated as “poor.”
Cons: This crossing has “significant right-of-way needs,” displacing 25 homes and two businesses, Dearing said. It is also the furthest from South Airport Road, reducing its usefulness in alleviating traffic there. As part of their analysis, consultants recently identified new wetland impacts that could arise from the crossing, and found a new railroad crossing bridge would have to be constructed to accommodate grading in the area.

OHM consultants said they have solicited a wide “cross-section of input” over the last several months, including having three meetings with a local advisory group of government leaders from across the region and reaching out to environmental groups for input. Several of those groups – which have opposed a bypass for decades – remain deeply skeptical of the project. In a letter to supporters this week, Groundwork Center Deputy Director James Bruckbauer called the bypass study “misguided,” saying that “while other towns are putting in place visionary strategies for fixing existing roads and building new technology, transit, and mobility options to help people get around efficiently without depending on a car, our local road leaders are still pushing for outdated ideas that simply never die.”

Bruckbauer continued that while a new bridge might provide “short-term traffic relief” on roads in Garfield Township like South Airport, it would “take very few cars off roads in Traverse City, like Grandview Parkway and Front Street.” Bruckbauer said the region “needs a far-reaching and cost-effective transportation strategy that provides real solutions, not a multi-million-dollar bridge project that threatens a sensitive environmental and natural recreation area and does not solve traffic congestion.”

Consultants Tuesday acknowledged that some residents and community groups remain firmly in support of a “no-build” option and said OHM was actively trying to include their feedback in the PEL process, which they stressed is a lengthy and transparent one. OHM will continue to investigate the three options and incorporate feedback as they work to narrow alternatives down to one route in 2022, which could then be significantly refined to better reflect cost, logistical, environmental, and other considerations. Grand Traverse County Road Commission Manager Brad Kluczynski said that in addition to the two public input meetings that have taken place to date, a third meeting is planned for February or March. “We’ll have some more detailed information (on the crossing options) than what we currently have” at that meeting, Kluczynski said.