Category: Construction

We’ve had a couple of bridges under construction for a while (North Cass, South Union), but now, the fun is getting super fun. Starting Monday, Division between Grandview Parkway and 10 Street will be repaved. If you’ve driven down that stretch of Division / US-31, you know it’s in rough shape. Hopefully it will not take too long to complete, but I’ll be taking the back way home for a few weeks.

Today, on Monday, January 30th, it begins again. Yes, more bridge work here in Traverse City. Both the north Cass Street bridge (between Grandview Parkway and Front Street) and the south Union Street bridge (between State Street and Sixth Street) will have their decking replaced, sidewalks expanded, and other improvements, work that will not be completed until June.

The first concreate bridge over Union Street was constructed in 1931. Union was originally US 31, so it was an important route through town. Thankfully, the highway was moved west to Division. Can you imagine how terrible it would be if the highway going through Old Towne? The bridge is a little rough, especially the crumbling decorative balustrades. 

The Cass Street bridge is far younger, built in 1960. It doesn’t look as bad, but it apparently needed to have work done, and the city got a discount for doing two bridges at the same time. 

BTW, Cass Street was named after Lewis Cass, the territorial governor of Michigan, senator, Secretary of War under Andrew Jackson, and presidential nominee who was defeated by Zachary Taylor.

Though it will be a big pain in the butt for residents (like the recent south Cass Street, Park Street, and Eighth Street bridges were in the past few years), it’s work that needs to get done, so we’ll just have to deal with it for a few months.

The island at State and Boardman is being demolished as I write this.

What happens when a city has too much money? They waste it by doing studies and dumb ideas come out of it. State is being converted to a two-way after fifty years of being one-way, and the island has to go.  Whether a two-way street is better – well,  we will find out, though the street is narrow, and one moron that can’t parallel park will cause a long traffic backup because there is now no other lane to use. I’m sure a further study will then lead to State having no parking and having bike lanes instead. Oops, shouldn’t get them ideas. Or at least I should charge them a lot for them.

Once upon a time, there was a Chemical Bank building on the corner of Union and State:

Well, that bank done been gone:

What will go in it’s place will be Rotary Park, a long-in-the-planning-phase park that will potentially hold all kinds of community type events. And we’ll have one less bank, which isn’t a bad thing. I’ve been inside a bank exactly once in the past three years, and a park works great for me.  And it will be named for an organization that has done much for the TC community over the years.

You have probably heard that the windmill on M-72 is coming down. Well, that is happening today.

I have lived here almost two years, and I have never seen in turn, so I suppose this venerable landmark had come to an end of it’s useful life. As Jesus said, if the fig tree isn’t growing any figs, you should probably remove it.

Still, it will be odd not seeing it there on my many (often daily) trips down that area of town. Perhaps we could put something else in it’s place. Marijuana dispensaries are very popular right now. Or a roundabout. Or perhaps a giant shrine to Traverse City’s favorite car, the Subaru Outback. But in the meantime, pieces of the windmill wait for their next destination.