The Grand Traverse County Road Commission (GTCRC) approved contracts for multiple projects at their Thursday meeting, with work to start soon on Franke Road, East Silver Lake Road, Skegemog Point Road, and the Ramsay Road timber bridge. Road commissioners also discussed updates on several other roads, including Hammond, Beitner, South Airport, Cass, and County Road 633/Youker/Hamlin.

Project Contracts
A long-awaited project to address Franke Road – which runs between Silver Lake Road and US-31 near Meijer – is set to begin.

Road commissioners approved a contract for $977,277 with J&N Construction for the crush-and-shape work, which GTCRC Manager Dan Watkins said could kick off as soon as next week. Construction, which came in below the engineer’s estimate, is planned to conclude by end of August or early September to be “wrapped up” as much as possible when school starts, Watkins said. He previously noted the road had been “quite complicated” to design to balance traffic-calming measures like islands with lane configurations that accommodate everything from Montessori school traffic to Meijer semi-trucks to residential access.

Road commissioners also approved an $898,574 contract with Elmer’s Thursday to complete nearly three miles of hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay work on East Silver Lake Road between Silver Lake Road and Rennie School Road. That corridor was reconstructed 15 years ago but has “not held up,” said Chair Alan Leman. Elmer’s also won a $347,236 contract to complete a crush-and-shape project on Skegemog Point Road from north of Drake to Fairview. That is a special assessment district (SAD) project, or one in which property owners pay for part of the cost.

A project to replace the timber bridge on Ramsay Road in Fife Lake Township – for which funding was previously yanked by the federal government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – is now moving forward. Bids came in double the engineering estimate, but GTCRC was able to work with the Conservation Resource Alliance to secure funding for the $450,262 contract with AJ’s Excavating, Watkins said. The existing timber bridge deck was determined to no longer be structurally sound for traffic in 2023.

Other Road Updates
Road commissioners agreed to hold a special meeting on July 13 to award bids for two major projects: the Beitner Road bridge replacement and the reconstruction of Hammond Road between Four Mile and Townline roads.

Crews from Molon recently cleaned out the collapsed Beitner crossing, with GTCRC accelerating the design work for the new bridge replacement and securing permits from Michigan’s Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). Watkins previously told The Ticker the goal is to start construction as possible as possible after the bid’s awarded to finish before the end of the year and get the new pavement down before snow sets in. However, the completion date will ultimately hinge on when work starts, he said.

GTCRC hoped to start sooner on the Hammond Road project, but staff caught a late error in the design that had to be corrected, Watkins said. He anticipates putting the project out to bid this week so bids can be returned before GTCRC’s special July meeting. In addition to new road, the project will extend Hammond’s two eastbound lanes through the Three Mile light and reconstruct that light.

The April flooding that took out the Beitner bridge had another ripple effect: delaying the planned reconstruction of Cass Road between South Airport and the Cass bridge this year. Because Cass has become a default bypass for Beitner, that project has been pushed back to 2027. Cass Road is a Federal-Aid project through the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Although GTCRC received permission to push the project back, there are now outstanding questions about whether the project will have to be rebid and how costs will be split if they come in higher than originally budgeted. Road commissioners asked staff to research those questions and bring back an update.

Also related to the flooding, Watkins said GTCRC has reached an agreement with Land & Resource Engineering to shore up the South Airport Road crossing near Logan’s Landing. That work will help ensure sandbags don’t have to be deployed as they were in April if the Boardman floods, Watkins said. As GTCRC works with other local partners toward a long-term solution for South Airport Road, such as a new bridge, the support work should buy the structure “ten years,” Watkins said.

GTCRC plans to package multiple engineering/design projects into a request-for-proposals (RFP) that could be posted in August. That includes a planned extension of Zimmerman Road to Harris Road and either a roundabout or other improvements in the North Long Lake Road/Strait Road/East Long Lake Road intersection area. GTCRC has long pursued a “peanut” or “dog bone” roundabout there – an elongated roundabout that is really two roundabouts separated by a narrow boulevard – but has been unsuccessful in multiple attempts to secure project funding. The engineering work will allow road commissioners to evaluate best options for proceeding with both projects.

Finally, road commissioners Thursday discussed the County Road 633/Hamlin/Youker intersection. That intersection currently has a temporary traffic signal up to accommodate detour traffic from the state’s US-31 reconstruction project. GTCRC has heard strong support from local officials and residents about keeping a light up there permanently.

An adjacent property owner is willing to let GTCRC use the necessary property for free if a signal remains up. However, the intersection doesn’t meet the warrants for a signal, which staff said could create liability exposure for GTCRC if the signal remains and an accident occurs at the site. As a compromise, road commissioners suggested leaving a flashing light up at the intersection, which doesn’t have to meet warrant requirements. Staff plan to speak to the property owner to confirm that’s an acceptable solution.