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Important Information

The Boardman Lake Trail around Boardman Lake, in the heart of Traverse City, is a shared-use path owned by the City of Traverse City, in partnership with Grand Traverse County and Garfield Township. Decades in the making, this project is the final connection to close the loop around the lake, completing the West Boardman Lake Trail.

This West Boardman Lake Trail project was split into two sections:

  • Phase I starts at the end of the trail at 14th Street. It then follows the railroad right-of-way to the  parking lot on the north side of Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). Construction for this section began during the summer of 2020 and was completed earlier this summer (2021).
  • Phase II starts where Phase I stopped: It begins at NMC and extends over the Cove area on Boardman Lake, through Logan’s Landing, across a new bridge to Medalie Park and across another new bridge, to close the loop at the existing trail. This second phase is under construction now.

 

The entire loop is anticipated to be complete in the summer of 2022.

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Prein&Newhof will have personnel in the field on behalf of the City.

Bob Ouwinga
Construction Observer (On-Site)
(231) 878–2536

Scott Post, PE
Project Manager
(616) 485–0281

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Contractor: Elmer’s Crane & Dozer, Inc.

Al MacDonald
(231) 943–3443

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City of Traverse City

Penny Hill
Assistant City Manager
(231) 922–4440

City of Traverse City – West Boardman Lake Trail Loop Phase II

June 27, 2022

This Week

Paving has been completed for the trail and parking lot! All pavement markings, including parking striping at Medalie Park, is complete! In addition, all concrete work and paver bricks are installed and complete. Grass seeding and final restoration began this week.

 

Next Week

Grass seeding and restoration should be completed next week, as well as much of the plantings and special shoreline restoration.

After that, some plantings, cleanup, and punch list reviews will be completed and the project should be open very soon.
June 17, 2022

This Week

Team Elmer’s completed all of the base course paving for the trail and for the parking lot at Medalie Park. In addition, their crews started work on the paver blocks at the rest area/nodes and completed most of this work as well. Almost all of the railing is placed on the boardwalk, the overlooks, and the stairs.

 

Next Week

Early next week, Team Elmer’s will complete all paving for the path and the parking lot and will start painting the stripes at Medalie Park’s parking lot. In addition, they plan to start planting grass seed and restoring the shorelines at the bridges. The rest of the landscaping and the trees should start to get planted in the following week.
June 13, 2022

This Week

Crews have been grading the pathways and parking lot in Medalie Park in preparation for paving. Most of the sidewalk is now poured, as well as the decorative concrete for the donor plaza in Medalie Park and the other rest area nodes along the trail. Fencing crews are also working on the railings for the steps, the boardwalk overlooks, and the fencing along the retaining walls at NMC.

 

Next Week

Asphalt crews plan to be on site starting Tuesday, paving parking lot and trails in Medalie Park and placing the final/top course of pavement on the trail around NMC. Paver brick crews should start work at the rest area nodes next week.
June 1, 2022

This Week:

We are in the home stretch! A lot of work has been completed in the last week! Elmer’s is continuing to work at Medalie Park and Logan’s Landing in preparation to pave the path, connecting the bridges. The aggregate base for the asphalt path is in place and topsoil is spread on the banks. They are pouring the concrete approaches at the bridges, as well as all the sidewalk in the park and along the parking lot. In addition all of the concrete pads for the rest areas will be poured. The parking lot has been stripped of the old asphalt and regarded in preparation for new pavement.

 

Next Week:

Work will continue at the Park, specifically for the donor plaza placing the paver blocks and starting landscaping. Paving will be soon, possibly as early as next week. Paving work remaining includes the first layer of HMA on the trail through Logan’s Landing and Medalie Park, and the second (top) layer of HMA from the boardwalk north around NMC.
May 13, 2022

This Week

Elmer’s finished fine grading the aggregate base for the trail, and paved the first layer of asphalt on the trail section from The Cove area up past NMC to the end of the first phase. They also began prepping at Medalie park for the pathway improvements there, and the rest area/plaza going in at the park. They also prepped area for the concrete “node” rest areas along the path.

 

Next Week

We anticipate work will continue internally at Medalie Park on the rest area/plaza, as well as the trails. Also the old parking lot will soon be removed and repaved as well.
May 2, 2022

Last Week

It was an exciting week of progress last week, as Team Elmer’s set the west 140’ long bridge over the Ottaway River (Boardman River) on Friday! This is the bridge from Medalie Park to Logan’s Landing. The lift was smooth and uneventful, but exciting nonetheless!

In addition, crews were working on pouring concrete for the boardwalk approaches and rest area nodes along the trail, as well as spreading topsoil and seed to finish restoration.

 

This Week

This week work will continue for concrete and restoration.

As of today, Elmer’s plans to set the second bridge over the Ottaway (Boardman) River! If all goes per plan, they will place the 90’ bridge connecting Medalie Park with the East Boardman Lake Trail sometime later this week. Work should start for building the ramps to the bridges this week as well.

Crews will also continue to work on the rest area nodes with paver blocks, and prep the site for restoration and landscaping.
April 24, 2022

This Week

This week, the four bridge abutments were poured and are done, and some backfill has been pushed up to them. For the boardwalk, nearly all of the railing, including the handrails, is in place. This is also true of the overlooks at NMC and off of 16th Street. There are some sections of handrail to be placed, but we are waiting for materials, and there are a couple sections of railing that have been fabricated but are in the process of being galvanized and should be onsite in the next week or so.

 

Next Week

Probably the most exciting event for next week is Elmer’s will be setting the west bridge! If weather cooperates, they will be splicing the two sections of bridge and assembling the crane. They should be ready to place the bridge over the river late week.

In addition, the plan is for concrete crews to start working on some of the missing sidewalk and the rest of the nodes along the trail next week.
April 18, 2022

This Week

This week Team Elmer’s poured the concrete abutments for the boardwalk, and Spence Brothers was then able to finish construction of the boardwalk and deck, end to end.  They are continuing to work on the railing as well, setting the posts, fencing and railing. They also have placed much of the railing posts and fence on the overlook at NMC, and started on the north over look on 16th Street.  Elmer’s also started the concrete pours for the two bridge abutments, and should be done next week.

Other Elmer’s crews worked on prepping the City Park area at 16th Street to pour the rest of the sidewalk and complete restoration here.

 

Next Week

Elmer’s will finish the concrete abutments for the bridges. They will also likely complete the sidewalk on 116th Street near the new stairs.  Spence Brothers plans to start setting the posts, and fence on the 16th Street overlook, the stairs and the kayak/fishing platform.
April 12, 2022

Last week:

Spence Brothers worked with several crews to complete the steps down to the kayak/fishing platform, as well as make considerable progress on the boardwalk railings. In addition, they placed much of the railing on the overlook at NMC.

Team Elmer’s dug out the abutments for the boardwalk, and also worked on filling earth and spreading topsoil around the stairs.

 

This Week:

This week should be a big week for progress. Team Elmer’s is pouring the concrete for the boardwalk abutments early, and by midweek should also be pouring the bridge abutments. With the bridge abutments in place, they plan to set the bridges in early May.

Team Elmer’s will likely also set the top blocks on the retaining walls near NMC.

Spence Brothers will continue to place railings on the boardwalk and the two overlooks, and will likely build the final sections of boardwalk at the south and north ends, tying into the newly completed abutments.
March 18, 2022

This Week

Work has continued with great progress on the boardwalk. Bracing is now installed on almost all of the piles, with continued extension of the structure and decking.
In addition, Spence Brothers sent a second crew to start up work on the stairway at the City Property off of 16th Street.

 

Next Week

We anticipate that Spence Brothers will continue to advance decking on the boardwalk. In addition, they will again begin installing railing, including on the two “eyebrow” overlooks. They will also continue work on the stairs and may even complete them by the end of the week.

As the weather warms and the ground thaws, Elmer’s is working toward pouring the bridge abutments in the next couple of weeks.
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