The Leelanau County Road Commission did not hold their regular meeting at the usual time July 16. Instead, the road commissioners went on a fivehour tour of various roads in the county, reviewing completed projects and gathering information on new ones. Road Commission Manager Brendan Mullane told the newspaper about the highlights.
One of the places that the road commissioners visited on their tour was County Road (CR) 633, Cherry Bend Road, in Elmwood Township. The Elmwood Township board wants to complete a new multiuse trail off Cherry Bend next year.
Officials believe this multiuse trail will run along the south side of the road and go from Cherry Bend Park to the M-22 intersection. Mullane said that if plans for this trail move forward, the road commission will be involved with the project. But first, the township needs to secure funding.
Elmwood Township Supervisor Jeff Shaw has said the township hopes to secure funds for the trail through the Traverse Transportation Coordinating Initiative (TTCI), a metropolitan planning organization initiated in 2023 after the 2020 Census found that they now qualified as “urbanized areas.” Both Elmwood Township and the road commission are voting members on the TTCI.
Shaw said they hope the TTCI will fund up to $1 million towards this project. Mullane told the newspaper said last week that they plan to submit a proposal for the trail to the TTCI when they call for projects in September.
In 2026, the road commission will completely “redo” Cherry Bend Road. As Mullane noted, it is one of the few county roads that received a “poor” Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) score — less than five out of 10 — in last year’s study. Overall, just 11% of Leelanau County roads have a poor PASER rating — among the lowest in the state.
The road commissioners also visited several roads where various jurisdictions wish to enter cost-share agreements with the road commission for improvements and maintenance. Road commission policy states they can match up to 50% of the costs for these improvements.
Mullane says that the road commission is working on a “more defined” version of this policy. Back in December 2023, almost 20 Leland Township residents attended a road commission meeting to express disappointment over the road commission not providing a 50% match for improvements to Oxford Drive in the township.
According to Mullane, this was a result of a misunderstanding about their policy. The township believed that if their jurisdiction and Waterford Hills property owners came up with 50% of the funds for the project, the road commission would need to match the remaining 50%.
However, Mullane says that these proposals must be approved by the road commission engineer, and the commission doesn’t need to provide a full 50% match. For example, in a cost share agreement with Cleveland Township for work on “Little” Traverse Lake Road, the road commission is providing a 40% match.
“We have over $5 million in requests (for cost share agreements with the townships) now. So, we can’t afford to provide a 50% match on all of them. We are working on a more defined policy that makes that clear,” Mullane said.
According to the road commission’s 2023 annual report, they had $4 million budgeted for local road expenditures last year. These funds are used for a variety of things including surface and shoulder maintenance, drainage, chip and crack sealing, guardrail work, snow removal, and more. Restoring all the county’s local roads with a “poor” PASER score would cost $30 million.
Although they have not committed to providing funds for any of these roads as of the time of writing, the road commissioners toured several roads where local jurisdictions have requested cost-share agreements with the road commission. These included Rosinski Road in Centerville Township, Omena Point Road in Leelanau Township, and Lovers Lane in Suttons Bay Township.
They also passed through Traverse Lake Road in Cleveland Township. As mentioned above, the road commission is shouldering 40% of the costs for work on the road, which is going to be completed in three parts over 2023-2025.
The first segment of Traverse Lake Road was completed last year. The Cleveland Township Board entered into an agreement for work on the second segment — including culvert replacements, dirt work, and pavement — in May. This portion of the project included the bend of the road going around the northeast corner of Little Traverse Lake and leading to the M-22 intersection.
Mullane said they plan to start work on the final segment of Traverse Lake Road next year. They are coordinating with the National Parks Service (NPS) on the project, as their work on the final segment of the Sleeping Bear Dunes Heritage Trail may cross the road and introduce bike paths. Mullane also mentioned that they will not replace the culvert at the west end of the lake during their road work.
Another project that will continue next summer is the reconstruction of CR 626, which goes between Lake Leelanau to Omena. The road commission signed agreements with KPM Engineering in December 2023 for engineering design services on two sections of the road, to be completed in summer 2024 and 2025.
The road commissioners also reviewed finished projects, including:
• A chip seal operation on CR 641, Bugai Road. Mullane noted the importance of maintaining the good condition of this road, as it is seeing more traffic from people seeking to enter the county from a more inland route to avoid construction on M-22 near Grand Traverse Bay. It may also see more use when the state installs a roundabout at the intersection of M-22 and M-72 in 2026.
• Culvert work and a road reconstruction on CR 614, Gallivan Road. This road was closed between Alpine Road and Weisler Drive in June this year while six culverts over various creeks on Gallivan Road were replaced.
• Culvert work on CR 675, South Dunns Farm Road. Culverts on this road are being replaced with “much wider” ones that will enable larger, more natural flows to Glen Lake and other inland bodies of water. The road commissions also inspected the effects of a mudslide that happened on this road in June. Mullane said the NPS is working to stabilize a nearby hill to prevent future mudslides.
