Traverse City roads and Infrastructure

[MJLO]

Ok, So some of the talk on here has got me wondering. What are the future plans

to improve, and/or expand the roads in the Norther Michigan, Traverse City hub areas?

I am probabally in the minority here, But I have long felt that 131 needs to be a

freeway extended to 75, and I think that 31 needs to atleast have be in part a Freeway

loop that extends to 131. Will these things happen. Will MDOT force it on the NIMBY's

up there to avoid the certain chaos that comes with growth, when u dont expand Rds.

I very well may be the only person on this forum that thinks freeways aren't all evil.

Anyone in the know about what's planned?

Anyone have an opinion?

[TenPoundHammer]

There has been talk about extending US-131 as a freeway north of Manton and hooking it into I-75. I think that US-31 freeway bypasses have also been planned for Petoskey and Traverse City, but I think both plans have been axed.

[Ka3kab]

They can't even get a non-freeway bypass built around Traverse City and Petoskey. They would rather complain about the traffic in the summer than reroute them. Also, it has become so expensive to build freeways that the state would have a hard time footing the bill and with land prices around TC and Petoskey being so high, they would have even a harder time. Another thing is the geography of this area. Try to bypass TC and where can you go. Reconnecting to US-31 north of TC would become diffecult with Lake Michigan and Torch Lake being so close to each other.

[MJLO]

What major companies are in Traverse City, are there any?

[dtown]

Haggerty Insurance, the nations largest classic car insurer.

[MJLO]

I'm going thru MDOT's five year plan, and I can't find anything other than minor improvements to existing roads. I understand peoples need for wanting things to be natural, but that brings up another issue, how long can the existing road system stay in place before it becomes overwhelming?

[Ka3kab]

No, no major employers here. The largest employers in Grand Traverse County are Munson Medical Center, Traverse City Area Public Schools and Grand Traverse County. I remember looking this stuff up once and where I worked at the time was something like 25th on the list. We had a little under 100 employees at the time.

[MJLO]

I'm beating a dead horse here I think but, don't you think an improved transportation system, would perhaps invite more investment, and maybe improve the economy?

[dtown]

mm, maybe. i think it would be cool if they turned M- 72 into a freeway until right when it gets a few(maybe 10) miles from TC. and it could just end like 131 does. that might be nice. exept i dont know what you would do with all the drive ways facing 72, i guess you would have to make a small road the ran near it to put the driveways onto.

[Ka3kab]

I'm beating a dead horse here I think but, don't you think an improved transportation system, would perhaps invite more investment, and maybe improve the economy?

Yes I do. Trust me on this one. I have been looking for a job for 3 weeks now and there just isn't anything going on up here, unless of course you enjoy flipping hamburgers or waiting on diners or making thier beds at their hotel all at rock bottom wages no less. But then again if you improved the economy and brought thousands of jobs this way, it would just piss off the good ol' boy system we enjoy so much around here.

[dtown]

good ol boy system?

[MJLO]

is that good ole system in terms of politics. Or is that good ole boy system in terms of hiring cousins?

[dtown]

i think he said his computer took a crap, so itl probobly be a while before we get a response on that one.

[Ka3kab]

Yeah sorry about this. It is taking a while to get this thing fixed. Anyway, yes, to both. Contracts for city/county road services go to the same two contractors all the time, public buildings to one contractor and yes they hire their cousins for everything.

[MJLO]

You know, that mentality, seems pretty endemic of Rural Northern Michigan. It's almost like a club, and you have had to have family live there for generations to be in.

[Ka3kab]

That's what I've gathered. When I lived in Benzie County I noticed that the Road Commision was made up of 3 families for 6 seats. 3 Pelky's, 2 Rosa's and some other guy that was there to make it look less like a family reunion. Most of the people who even worked for the commision were made up of Pelky's and Rosa's. Pretty sickening if you ask me.