Costly Bypass Around Downtown Business

Proposal and Savings
Deny funding for the proposed Hartman-Hammond Bridge/Traverse City Bypass. Total cost would be $300 million — 80 percent federally funded.

Background
The planned 33-mile, four-lane highway is designed to speed traffic around Traverse City, the business and financial center of Northwest Michigan. The Grand Traverse County Road Commission has applied for $12.5 million in federal funding for the Hartman-Hammond Bridge, an essential component of the bypass.

Status
The Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be complete in early 1999. However, the Coalition for Sensible Growth has released a proposed alternative.

Problems with the Project

Taxpayer Concerns
Federal funding guidelines have created distorted incentives that encourage the building of a more expensive project than is necessary. The Grand Traverse County Road Commission argues that in order to receive federal funding, it must replace the one-lane Cass Road Bridge through the Boardman River Valley. A new four-lane bridge with new quarter-mile connecting roads would cost $15.7 million.

Local residents propose a less expensive and less damaging alternative — upgrade the current bridge from one to two lanes at a cost of $1.8 million.

Local Community Concerns
Many local residents are concerned that the project would contribute to sprawl. Family-owned, downtown businesses worry that the Bypass would invite more national chain stores and mall developers into the region, undermining the compact and successful city center. Area residents worry that the highway would become a beltway strip mall, and increase traffic in what is now thinly populated rural farm and recreational areas including undeveloped state forest land.

Environmental Concerns
Local citizens contend that the Bypass design process fails to comply with environmental laws and ignores the effects the new road would have in opening up farmland to development. Businesses, local governments, and environmental and conservation groups have criticized the project as a threat to air, water, and forest resources. The proposed four-lane bridge across the Boardman River would require filling in approximately 10 acres of wetlands.

Construction and heavy vehicle use would cause erosion and degrade the Boardman River, a blue-ribbon trout stream which flows into Grand Traverse Bay, the source of Traverse City’s drinking water. The proposed route would cut through the Pere Marquette State Forest, slicing across the Vasa Trail, a summer hiking trail and winter cross-country course that hosts an annual, nationally renowned ski race.

Contacts
Mark Nixon, Coalition for Sensible Growth, (616) 929-4310, csg@michiweb.com ; Kelly Thayer, Michigan Land Use Institute, (616) 882-4723, trans@mlui.org .

U.S.131 Expansion
Northwest Michigan
400 million

Traffic Counts Don’t Justify Project

Proposal and Savings
Deny funding for the expansion of U.S. 131 between Cadillac and I-75 and a connector highway to I-75. The total project cost is $500 million — 80 percent federally funded.

Background
U.S. 131 is a major north-south route running from Indiana to the northern Lake Michigan coast. The road is the primary access route to the relatively unspoiled regions of northwest lower Michigan. These are prime recreation and vacation areas for nearby cities. U.S. 131 has been planned as a four-lane, limited-access freeway since the 1950s. The freeway portion now ends at Cadillac, with the 90 miles of road north to Petoskey a two-lane highway.

Status
An $86.5 million bypass around Cadillac is under construction and expected to be completed by 2001 or 2002. After completion, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to begin the Manton segment, despite a traffic study finding the traffic in the expansion area north of Mancelona has decreased in recent years.

Problems with the Project

Taxpayer Concerns
The MDOT scoping documents clearly state that traffic concerns do not justify expansion. Traffic counts are well below state average, as are accident and death rates, even in the worst locations. Alternatives, including improving local roadways and upgrading existing U.S. 131, would be more than adequate to address motorists’ concerns.

Local Community Concerns
The MDOT scoping documents also indicate that communities along the existing roadway can expect many unwelcome effects as a result of expansion.

Small businesses and residents fear a four-lane, limited-access freeway would drain the local economy and reduce quality of life by making the area less attractive to tourists and seasonal residents.

The U.S. 131 Development Authority, a collection of business enterprises and economic groups, supports the highway expansion. But many residents continue to publicly argue for improvements to the existing roadbed instead of new construction.

Environmental Concerns
The four-lane freeway would affect acres of wetlands, bisect large tracts of undeveloped state forests, and divide important agricultural lands. Moreover, it would traverse and degrade state and federally designated natural and wild and scenic rivers, including the Boardman River, which is a blue ribbon trout stream. Three proposed alignments would fragment sensitive portions of the Boardman River Watershed; two would affect areas designated as "wild and scenic."

Local residents, businesses, and environmental groups, such as the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), support alternatives that have significantly fewer detrimental effects.

Contacts
Chris Bunch, MUCC, (616) 271-4673; Kelly Thayer, Michigan Land Use Institute, (616) 882-4723, trans@mlui.org.