A Bridge and a Divide

March 29, 2015

Proposed Reconstruction of a Boardman River Bridge Has Reignited Hot Debate

Bridges are supposed to connect two places. For 20 years, the proposed Hartman-Hammond bridge has done the exact opposite. It has divided a community.

The question of whether to construct a connector south of S. Airport Road that would route traffic over the Boardman River – and possibly around Traverse City – became a philosophical debate as much as one about where to locate a road.

The Hartman-Hammond controversy has reemerged years after going down in a fight between environmentalists and advocates for growth, and it now threatens the reconstruction of another bridge over the Boardman River.

APRIL DECISION DUE

Chuck Korn, Garfield Township supervisor and Hartman-Hammond’s biggest proponent of late, wants to see the Cass Road bridge project scuttled. He believes environmentalists want it built to ensure the Hartman-Hammond project never happens.

Korn has lobbied Grand Traverse County commissioners to refuse to fund a $483,000 match required to receive a $3 million Michigan Department of Transportation grant.

The grant would pay to reconstruct the failing one-lane bridge, making it into twolanes.

Supporters of Cass, who come from across the political spectrum, say there is no conspiracy and that a conservative, albeit different, county board already signed off on the project in 2013 because the crossing is critical to area transportation.

The matter is now in the hands of the county board. County Administrator David Benda said MDOT expects a funding commitment by the end of April in order for the project to move forward.

ENVIRONMENTALIST CONSPIRACY

Korn sees the fingerprints of conspiratorial environmentalists all over the Cass bridge issue.

"It’s all been a chess game: "˜we’re going to give up a chunk of a natural river, as long as we can keep the Hartman-Hammond from being built,’" he said. "The reason I think the three so-called environmental groups are so in favor of it is because they believe it will be a weapon to help them stop Hartman-Hammond. "¦ "˜Well, we already built one bridge.

We don’t need to build another.’" Korn believes it makes no sense for organizations like the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay or the Michigan Land Use Institute to support a bridge that crosses the Boardman River.

"This is a group that never wants to build a bridge. They don’t want to do anything with roads," he said.

Korn said Cass bridge is located where it is because that’s where the dam is, not because it’s a good place for a bridge. Once the dam is removed, he believes it makes sense for the crossing to be at Hartman-Hammond, a mile north. If the Cass bridge is not reconstructed, however, the county will lose the $3 million and the search for funds to build another bridge would have to start from scratch.

JUST ANOTHER BOTTLENECK

The Boardman River cuts Garfield Township in two. Korn believes it’s acceptable for the township to lose one of its two river crossings for the sake of Hartman- Hammond, a move he acknowledges would increase traffic on an already overburdened S. Airport Road. He believes the loss of the Cass bridge would make traffic on S. Airport "marginally worse."

However, Korn said Hartman-Hammond will solve S. Airport’s traffic problems.

"I think it’s in the best interest [of the township] in the long term," he said. "The purpose is not to encourage sprawl. The purpose is to improve transportation."

Korn said East Bay and Garfield townships have passed resolutions and are working on an ordinance that would limit access along the Hartman-Hammond corridor to points at major intersections. He said Hartman-Hammond would be an environmentally better choice than Cass because it crosses closer to an industrial area and outside the stretch of the Boardman that has been designated a natural river by the state.

He said that because Cass Road ends at Keystone Road, just south of the bridge, the route merely adds traffic to an already busy road.

"Cass Road is just another bottleneck at the end of the day," he said.

MORE ROADS MEAN MORE TRAFFIC

Opponents of Hartman-Hammond fear it would create a commercial corridor similar to S. Airport Road. Discussion of S. Airport is hard to avoid in the Cass bridge and Hartman-Hammond debate because of how different scenarios could affect traffic on a road that already sees regular backups.

Gary Howe, a smart growth advocate and a Traverse City commissioner, said the debate over Hartman-Hammond or S. Airport is about what kind of community we want to have – whether we value walking and biking as much as driving.

"That’s the problem with the Hartman- Hammond bridge discussion. Sure, you build a bridge, it takes some cars off for a year," Howe said. "But you haven’t done anything to solve the traffic problem. You’ve just created more traffic opportunities. You’ve actually decreased the cost of driving socially and economically, so guess what? You’re going to get more driving."

Howe and others favor improving existing infrastructure – like the Cass bridge – and finding solutions for S. Airport without adding lanes. Howe doesn’t believe Hartman-Hammond belongs in a discussion about whether Cass bridge should be reconstructed.

"I think it’s a distraction," he said. "It’s [Hartman-Hammond] a $100 million project and no one has any money for it. It’s not integral to the state’s interest, so why would they fund it? Meanwhile, you’ve done nothing to really invest in your current properties: South Airport, Barlow – places that could actually get more efficient."

CONSPIRACY DENIED NMEAC

Chairman Greg Reisig said his group supports the Cass bridge and opposes Hartman-Hammond, but not because they are involved in a conspiracy to quash Hartman-Hammond.

"Chuck Korn has continually said NME- AC and other organizations have rigged the [Boardman River Dams] Implementation Team in favor of the Cass Road bridge," Reisig said. "Nothing can be further from the truth."

Reisig said NMEAC believes existing roads and bridges should be repaired and maintained before new ones are constructed.

John Nelson, the Watershed Center’s Baykeeper, a county road commissioner, and a Garfield Township planning commissioner, also denied a conspiracy.

"The two projects are discrete and separate projects," Nelson said. "We have a crossing at Cass Road that exists and needs to be replaced. It’s the perfect time to do it because the dam will be removed."

Nelson said it would be irresponsible to abandon the Cass Road bridge project right now because the road commission and the county commission agreed to move forward with the project in 2013. They signed a contract, raised and spent $300,000 in grant money, and secured funding.

"I am very much a supporter of replacing the Cass Road bridge as a road commission," Nelson said. "It’s an invaluable east-west connector, and a north-south connector, for that matter."

WHAT ARE THE TRAFFIC IMPLICATIONS?

Road Commission Manager Jim Cook said road commissioners recognized that the county could not afford to lose a Boardman River crossing after the failure of Hartman- Hammond 15 years ago.

"The decision was made a long time ago to not go for that crossing, so our board – back in 2010, 2011 – made the decision that we couldn’t afford to lose another crossing because we had so few across the Boardman River," Cook said.

Eliminating the connection at Cass Road would cause problems for first responders who need to get to an emergency on the other side of the Boardman, he said.

Also, Cook said Traverse City Area Public Schools estimates the loss of the bridge would cost the district $150,000-$250,000 per year in extra bus travel.

Cook believes the Cass bridge will remove some pressure from S. Airport, as the bridge currently sees around 5,500 vehicles per day and is expected to see 14,000 per day after reconstruction. He said some of that traffic will move from S. Airport.

Cook supports a Hartman-Hammond crossing, but he believes if that happens it is a long way off. And he doesn’t believe it should come at the expense of Cass Road.

"The question is, how long would the residents have to wait before [Hartman- Hammond is constructed]? Because it does create a hardship," Cook said.

ANOTHER OPINION

Cass bridge has minimal impact on S. Airport traffic, said Matt Skeels, coordinator of TC-TALUS, a county task force launched in 1990 to study traffic in the region. That’s because studies have shown that the bridge carries traffic north and south, not east and west, he said. TALUS has not studied how loss of the bridge would affect traffic.

Skeels said the lack of east-west routes across Traverse City is a problem whether the bridge is constructed or not. Current east-west traffic flows primarily on S. Airport, Eighth Street or Grandview Parkway.

Skeels said Hartman-Hammond will probably be the ultimate answer to ease east-west congestion in the region, but that’s not likely to happen soon.

"In this funding climate, I think it’s very, very difficult," he said. "It’s going to take a lot of money to get the project going again."

Skeels was at TALUS in the 1990s when the first Hartman-Hammond debate turned into a firestorm.

"It was very, very contentious at that time," Skeels said.

Proponents secured funding through the federal government and made strides in winning environmental approval, but in the end, environmental objections prevailed.

OBJECTIONS REMAIN TRUE TODAY

Nelson also recalls the contentious Hartman-Hammond debate of years past. The Watershed Center’s primary objections centered around the ecological impact on the Boardman River and a tributary, Jack’s Creek.

NMEAC also objected on environmental grounds, but their focus was on the belief that the creation of a new Hartman-Hammond corridor would take sprawl in the region to another level.

Nelson said he believes current infrastructure should be tackled first, like the Cass Road bridge and the S. Airport corridor. He believes the road commission is doing what it can to address traffic on S. Airport: intersections have been improved, traffic light timing has been coordinated with new traffic sensors in the past year. He also hopes to see fewer access points in the future.

Nelson said money should be invested in S. Airport and improving the Beitner-Keystone corridor before Hartman-Hammond is considered.

"It would be difficult and expensive, but it can be done, and when you’re talking about a new crossing costing anywhere from $98 million to $140 million, for Hartman- Hammond, you’re talking about a lot of money that maybe could be spent on some of these ideas," Nelson said.

Skeels came up with that oft-quoted Hartman-Hammond cost estimate and he cautions putting too much stock in it. He said it’s based on "extremely rough" estimates punched into a funding formula calculator that he found online.

A SOLUTION FOR TRAVERSE CITY?

Korn said there are some small fixes that could address S. Airport’s traffic problems, but they are stopgaps. He believes Hartman-Hammond is the long-term solution for S. Airport and, for that matter, congestion on Division, Eighth Street and Grandview Parkway.

Korn would like to see Hartman-Hammond become the corridor for US-31 and M-37, which currently runs from Chums Corners to Grand Traverse Bay.

"I think Hartman-Hammond has the potential and, in my mini-vision, because I’m not "˜grand,’ if Hammond were to become 31/37 – if the state highway ran across Hartman-Hammond to get to the other side of town – it could turn the Parkway into basically a city street," he said.

Howe doesn’t agree that Hartman-Hammond would improve Traverse City traffic.

"There is just absolutely no proof. I keep hearing that and I’m like, "˜No. Where is that going to happen? You’re still going to have 25,000 cars on Division,’" Howe said. "I don’t think it solves anything in the city."