Drivers should brace for traffic backups starting Tuesday as crews make emergency repairs to a sewer main site at one of Traverse City’s busiest and most complex intersections. The fix at South Airport and Cass – which will require multiple lane closures for two days – will be followed by more work after Labor Day. The Ticker spoke with Grand Traverse County Public Works Director Noah Karberg about what’s happened with the sewer main to date, what repairs are planned, and what the long-term impacts will be for the pipe and road.

First, some background. The pipe in question is a gravity sewer main – one in which sewage flows downhill from a high point to a low point – that was built in the 1970s. It was common then to use clay in construction, which “we know now is not an ideal material,” says Karberg. He cites as an example a terracotta flower pot. “If you accidentally kick it over, spiderweb cracks appear that make it difficult to fully repair,” he explains. “It’s not the most structurally sound.”

In summer 2025, a contractor who was drilling for conduit drilled right into the sewer main near the corner of Cass and South Airport. Crews repaired the main by replacing a small section, compacting it, and repaving the site. But this spring, another break occurred further upstream. In this location, the main is approximately 15 feet deep. Its depth and the infrastructure above it – including a traffic mast arm and pole and a 10-ton concrete pier stabilizing the mast – have made even reaching the pipe to assess the break challenging, Karberg says.

“In terms of complexity, it’s similar to the Beitner Bridge,” he says. “There are so many conflicts there.” That includes numerous electrical, fiber, gas, sewer, and traffic signal components condensed at the busy intersection. To dig down 15 feet, crews need to dig at an angle to avoid having the hole collapse behind them, Karberg says. That wide of a dig field would not only require closing multiple traffic lanes but coordinating with agencies ranging from Traverse City Light & Power to Consumers Energy to the Road Commission.

Workers installed temporary bypass hoses to handle the sewer flow while officials evaluated options. The fix required the closure of the right-turn lane from South Airport Road to Cass Road – which has remained closed ever since – and initially had backup hoses draped across business driveways on Cass. Business owners were less than pleased, with the Public Works Department later installing a remote monitor that would alert officials if the bypass system failed. That allowed them to remove the backup hoses from the driveways.

Addressing traffic was a thornier issue. Officials considered how to remove the traffic mast and pole and the concrete stabilization pier to repair the main. Doing so would require a backup traffic control method. Officials considered – but quickly rejected – turning the intersection into a four-way stop. “We knew we couldn’t do that,” Karberg says, citing the tens of thousands of cars that go through Cass/South Airport daily. “The intersection would fail.”

Another option was stringing up temporary lights to maintain traffic flow. But that was also difficult, given the numerous conflicts with existing poles, utilities, and sight lines. Road Commission and utility officials ultimately nixed that approach. As summer neared and traffic intensified – particularly after the Beitner Bridge collapsed, funneling even more cars onto Cass and South Airport – officials decided “that if we can’t complete repairs by the Fourth of July, we should wait until Labor Day,” Karberg says. “The work is going to be very disruptive.”

Waiting was the plan right up until this week, when Team Elmer’s – which has been monitoring the site for the county – notified Karberg that the soil was destabilized and eroding. That could possibly lead to the collapse of the travel lane, according to Karberg. “Now this is an emergency, and we have to do something,” he says.

Starting Tuesday, multiple lanes will be shut down at the Cass/South Airport intersection for emergency repairs. That includes the westbound right-turn and one westbound through lane on South Airport Road. One westbound through lane will be maintained heading toward the hill. Both northbound through lanes on Cass Road (north of South Airport Road) will be closed, with northbound traffic shifted into the southbound left-turn lane to maintain traffic flow. Vehicles will be able to turn north and south onto Cass from South Airport, but Road Commission Manager Dan Watkins notes it will be a “tight turn for commercial vehicles.”

The closures are expected to last two days, conditions permitting. Once crews assess the main, one of two band-aid repairs will be initiated. The first would be to install a temporary saddle or sleeve on the pipe, which would hold the repair in place until Labor Day. If that’s successful, crews can then deploy a longer-term fix called pipe bursting. The trenchless repair pulls a specialized bursting head through the old pipe, which then expands and splits and makes room for new pipe to be installed in its place.

“It’s less invasive, the impact to the road is a lot less, and you’re doing the work mostly underground – so it wouldn’t require the same amount of lane closures,” Karberg explains.

But if a sleeve won’t work, crews will instead encase the bypass hose in conduit, bury it, and repave the road next week. Either of the band-aid solutions will allow the right-turn lane on South Airport to reopen for the summer. But if the bypass hose is encased, crews will need to tackle a more intensive long-term repair project after Labor Day. That work, which could take two weeks and require extensive lane closures at Cass/South Airport, would involve fully replacing a section of the sewer main (using PVC instead of clay pipe) from manhole to manhole – about 45 feet, Karberg says.

That approach is estimated to cost about $196,000. Costs are not yet known for the pipe bursting approach, nor for either of the band-aid repairs. The cost to operate the bypass system has hit nearly $66,000 to date, an expense that will continue to accrue if crews encase the bypass hose as the short-term solution. All costs related to addressing the sewer main will be covered by Garfield Township’s sewer fund, says Karberg.

The break raises a larger question about the long-term stability of aging pipes and the condition of the network overall. “It’s not just the clay pipes,” says Karberg. “There are other issues with ductile iron mains in corrosive soils.” Municipalities across the country are struggling to update aging infrastructure to meet modern demands – repairs that are expensive and thus can’t all be done at once. The price of materials and construction has also “soared” in the last decade, Karberg says, giving communities even less “purchasing power” for repair projects.

In Grand Traverse County, the Board of Public Works is looking to hire a consultant who will help the county identify “areas that are most at risk and create a strategy for implementing improvements over a number of years,” says Karberg. “The rule of thumb is that a utility can expect 20 breaks for every 100 miles of main. We’re on pace to exceed that, so we need to look at how we can do more preventative and proactive inspections and replacement.”

Photo credit: Grand Traverse County Road Commission