CRA’s data shows that of the 38 responding counties, their engineering staff peg the damage at $37.4 million currently. The damage is reported in 133 locations and totals 16 miles of pavement or right-of-way that require immediate restoration. The total impact on the county road system rises to 73 miles when considering intersection-to-intersection detours around these locations.
About 22 percent of road agencies said they would need to purchase additional right-of-way in 77 different locations to stabilize the roadbed, and 8.5 percent said permanent road relocation totaling six miles is likely required.
“Based on our engineer’s visual inspection, we are estimating $2,250,000 in repair costs for the work needed to stabilize the road and right-of-way,” said Brad Kluczynski, Manager of the Grand Traverse County Road Commission.
“If Lake Michigan rises substantially higher, there will likely be additional sections that need to be addressed — including possible closure of a segment of the popular Bluff Road that runs along Old Mission Peninsula to our wineries and other agricultural and tourist destinations,” Kluczynski said.
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“One section of Bluff Road was already closed this winter due to erosion that reached the edge of the driving surface, and we have another dead-end spur off of Forest Avenue that was formerly a gentle slope into the water and is now a steep drop-off that may need to be closed for safety reasons,” he said.
In the Upper Peninsula, tourism and access to some of Michigan’s most iconic sites are also threatened by high Great Lakes water levels.
“County Road 107 is the only access from the east into Michigan’s largest state park, the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park including Lake of the Clouds and the ski slopes,” said Mike Maloney, PE, Engineer-Manager of the Ontonagon County Road Commission (OCRC).
“CR 107’s erosion is and will continue to have severe impacts to the community and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources,” Maloney said. “While we were unsuccessful in getting a federal BUILD Grant, we have secured the assistance of the Michigan National Guard and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to restore 1,700 feet of shoreline this summer.”
The County Road 107 – also known as the 107th Engineers Memorial Highway – project has already cost OCRC $800,000 including $200,000 from the MDNR in a project that began this winter. Maloney pegs the fix at $5 million, although relocating the road further from Lake Superior at $13 million is the preferred fix.
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There are currently 10 counties that estimate more than $1 million in Great Lakes-caused damage to the county road system.
