By Craig Manning | March 24, 2023
While snow is in the forecast for the coming weekend, winter is clearly starting to fade, and there's no better proof than the fact that the Leelanau County Road Commission (LCRC) is already gearing up for the spring, summer, and fall. For the LCRC, the season shift means trading snowplow routes for chip seal projects and culvert repairs, among other road maintenance plans. But what should Leelanau County residents expect to see in the weeks and months ahead, as the season of road construction arrives? LCRC Managing Director Brendan Mullane and Board Chair Garth Greenan were both on hand at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners to outline upcoming plans and highlights for county road projects and expenditures. Here are four key takeaways from their report. 1. LCRC is preparing to launch a new strategic planning process According to Greenan, the LCRC board will be kicking off a new strategic planning process next month. That process will take into account local road conditions, LCRC staffing levels and needs, and the adequacy and overall state of LCRC facilities – including the department’s main office in Suttons Bay and its satellite garage in Maple City. Greenan noted that, with Leelanau County’s “primary roads” in relatively good shape, a big focus will be on local township and village roads. He’s hopeful that local residents and community leaders will engage with the process to ensure that these roadways get the attention they deserve in future plans.
“One thing that we really want to focus on is working with the townships, bringing them on board,” Greenan explained. “A lot of the local roads where the townships have to participate in the cost [of repairs and services] are in need of work. We do our best on the primary roads, and LCRC covers the cost or seeks funding for the repair of those roads, but the local roads are something we’re going to focus on and give a lot of attention to [in this plan].”
2. Contrary to popular belief, local roads actually dominate the LCRC budget
Per a presentation that Mullane gave to commissioners on Wednesday, Leelanau County has 598 miles of county roads. That inventory includes 171 miles of paved primary roads, 319 miles of paved local roads, 45 miles of local gravel roads, and 63 miles of roads “with seasonal road status” – mostly made up of two-track roads. Another 105 miles in the county is made up of state-owned roads that LCRC maintains under a contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), such as M-72 and M-22.
While there is a common refrain that primary roads will always get the lion’s share of the attention, Mullane noted that LCRC’s actual expenditures tell a different story. Primary roads encompass 24.3 percent of the 703 miles of total roadway that LCRC is responsible for maintaining. However, in 2022, LCRC spent $1,714,650 on “primary road paving and maintenance” – just 18.6 percent of the year’s total $9,217,754 expenditure. Local road projects, meanwhile, accounted for $4,626,450, or just over 50 percent of spending.
“So primary is actually less than the local roads [in terms of spending],” Mullane said, before noting that the LCRC is trying to move toward a “better balance” of its attention and budgetary allocations between primary and local roadways in the future. LCRC is approaching that balance this year: The department’s estimated $8,268,103 expenditure for 2023 includes $2,285,400 of spending for primary road projects and $3,046,100 for local roads.
3. Locals should expect to see substantial shoulder maintenance on Leelanau roads this spring
Last fall, LCRC purchased a new piece of equipment – called a force feed loader – which Mullane said will help improve and streamline the department's process for maintaining local road shoulders.
“We’re going to be ramping up the shoulder peeling operation,” he said, referring to a common roadwork tactic that is used to address high shoulders on roadways. Over time, the material on a road shoulder – such as dirt, sand, gravel, or grass – can build up to the point that the shoulder is actually higher in elevation than the road itself. “The raised shoulder is one of the bigger problems that we have in maintenance, because it keeps the water on the road or it pushes it down the hill and it washes out,” Mullane explained. “So we need to do a lot more shoulder peeling. We’re ramping that up for the year, and of course that means we’re probably going to tear up your front yard. Not on purpose, not because we don’t care, but we’ve got to get that ridge off.”
4. This year’s project slate could break department records
Mullane said that LCRC is “hoping to break 50 miles” of chip seal projects in 2023, which he noted would likely be an all-time record. Roadways likely to see substantial chip seal work this year include South Maple City Road/County Road 667, South Bohemian Road/County Road 669, Townline Road, Pettengill Road, and Stoney Point Road. A full list of proposed 2023 LCRC projects is included on page 9 of Mullane’s presentation from Wednesday’s commission meeting, which can be perused here.
Beyond chip seal work, other projects on the docket include culvert work on Pettengill Road, Country Road 663, and Carter Road; $853,000 in hot-mix asphalt resurfacing projects; and full road reconstruction work on about a quarter mile of Cedar Road.
LCRC’s roadwork projects join a calendar of work being done in Leelanau County this summer (and beyond by MDOT), which the Leelanau Ticker outlined in detail back in December.
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