After nearly seven years of Bluff Road closures on Old Mission Peninsula, the Grand Traverse County Road Commission (GTCRC) is eyeing design work to stabilize the surrounding slope – key work that must be completed before the road itself can be repaired. Road commissioners discussed that and other road work Thursday, including the latest with Three Mile/Hammond and numerous projects on deck for 2027.

Bluff Road
Road commissioners and Peninsula Township officials have struggled for years to find a solution for the half-mile stretch of Bluff Road between Boursaw and Blue Water roads, where an ongoing closure has required detours at either end and generated frustration (and lawsuits) from homeowners over losing water, beach, and vehicle/parking access.

Complicating issues is that Bluff Road faces not one but two major challenges: erosion from wave action on the beach side, especially when lake levels are high, and surface water running down the hill on the residential side of Bluff Road. Thick clay in the hillside soil prevents water from naturally seeping into the ground, instead forcing it to flow horizontally under the road, further contributing to erosion. Previous estimates put repairs in the several-million-dollar range, with GTCRC noting state law limits its contribution to 50 percent and citing the relatively low number of cars that use Bluff compared to other roads needing repairs.

A working committee of GTCRC and township officials has continued to explore options. On Thursday, GTCRC Manager Dan Watkins said staff asked Land & Resource Engineering (LRE) – the firm that completed the recent culvert armoring on South Airport Road – to look at Bluff Road while they were in town. LRE estimated it would cost just under $40,000 to design the road restoration and shoreline stabilization work. That proposal, which helped ballpark design costs, will now go through a request-for-proposals (RFP) to compare bids. It’s the first step in a lengthy process, with the actual repair work and funding sources still to be determined.

Stabilizing the slope, which is necessary so that road repairs aren’t immediately undermined by the same water and erosion issues that have plagued the corridor to date, will likely require easements with private property owners for work outside of the GTCRC right-of-way. From there, lower-cost options for addressing Bluff could be explored – including potentially returning the road to gravel, Watkins said.

Hammond/Three Mile
After repeated complications and delays, the Hammond/Three Mile project is now slated for a November 7 completion date.

Team Elmer’s Communications Director Tonya Wildfong shares that target – which is “weather and schedule permitting” – as crews prepare to begin paving next week. While the original goal was to have work done by end of October, Wildfong notes “there was time needed to address the underground utility incursions and other field adjustments.”

Watkins says Hammond/Three Mile has incurred repeated challenges since its inception. Staff initially planned the work for previous construction seasons but had to delay it multiple times due to state work on M-72 and then US-31 work near the Traverse City State Park. Then, with surrounding trail/sidewalk work ready to start as part of Safe Routes to School, GTCRC had to wait and align road work this summer because “otherwise they would have been tearing up our brand new road,” Watkins explains. The trail work has experienced culvert and water backup issues, which have affected the construction zone.

“We never wanted this to be this huge inconvenience,” Watkins says. “Folks have been asking why we don’t do the work at night, but there’s not enough staff even for the day, let alone night. And night work drives costs way up.” Crews encountered numerous underground utility conflicts that weren’t flagged in blueprints, and drivers ignoring the official detour route (which uses parts of Hammond, Three Mile, Four Mile, and US-31) have put significant stress on side roads like Vanderlip, Carlile, and Smith. Some of those roads are now slated for repairs in 2027 (see below).

“Hammond is my new nemesis,” Watkins chuckles grimly. “It’s going to be great when it’s done, but it’s been one of the toughest projects I’ve seen.”

More Road Projects
Road commissioners reviewed GTCRC’s planned 2027 project list Thursday. The lengthy list of rehabilitation or reconstruction projects includes sections of Cedar Run, Williamsburg, Diamond Park, Bowers Harbor, Four Mile, East Silver Lake, Brackett, Goodrick, Seven Hills, Neahtawanta, High Lake, Carlile, Smith, Boone, Schell, McRae Hill, Rusch, Hency/Matchett, Townline, and Racquet Club. Annual preventative maintenance and signal work is also on the list.

Watkins tells The Ticker that staff typically spend the winter designing and engineering next year’s projects, which then go out to bid by early spring. The bids will determine whether the full 2027 list can actually be completed or if some projects must be delayed due to costs. “We likely need fuel prices to come down to do the whole list,” Watkins says.

One major project that was originally slated for 2026 – the reconstruction of Cass Road from South Airport Road to the Robbins Bridge – was moved to 2027 due to the Beitner Bridge collapse. That is a nearly $3 million project largely funded through the region’s new Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). In addition to the road reconstruction, work will include replacing the traffic signal at Cass/South Airport and adding duel turn lanes from south Cass heading west on South Airport up the hill.

Road commissioners also approved several contracts Thursday for work this fall and next spring. Fall work includes replacing culverts on Karlin and South Long Lake roads, while safety work is planned for next year to modify the hills to improve visibility on Secor Road near East Long Lake/Bass Lake roads and on Summit City Road at Walton Road. The state pays 90 percent of those costs, with GTCRC paying the other 10 percent (about $64,000 for each). Also related to safety, staff are working to design new traffic signals for the  North Long Lake Road/Strait Road/East Long Lake corridor near Moomers (previously envisioned for roundabouts) with the goal of applying for a safety grant next spring to cover their installation.