Traverse City Record-Eagle

Garfield Township

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  • Douglas Tesner

    Hammond Extension
July 24, 2009

Hammond to Keystone road project hits bump

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY

TRAVERSE CITY -- Debbie Kuemin looks forward to the day Grand Traverse County completes a $10 million project to connect Hammond and Keystone roads, even if it takes six months longer than planned.

Kuemin recently learned she may have to use a temporary driveway constructed to access her home on Keystone Road all winter, since the project hit its first major bump. Recent tests done before installing four bridge foundations indicated they could sink into the sandy soil without reinforcement.

"While it's not going to be convenient, we really don't have any control over it," Kuemin said. "We'll work with it the best we can."

The project includes two bridges to pass over railroad tracks, one on Hammond Road as it comes down a bluff to Keystone Road, and another to eliminate a large S curve on Keystone Road. The bridge foundations -- large slabs of concrete -- sit on top of long pieces of steel, called piles, that are driven deep into the ground.

"We've got sandy soil and the steel is sliding right through and it's not developing enough bearing capacity," road commission Manager Mary Gillis said.

Test piles driven into the ground will be overloaded today to see the extent of movement, Gillis said. That will determine if additional piles will solve the problem or if the bridges have to be redesigned.

"It's a big project and you have issues and you deal with them," Gillis said. "These tests will determine what our course of action is."

Either course is likely to cost more and delay the project, originally scheduled to conclude in November.

"It could cause enough delay that we couldn't get it paved yet this year," Gillis said.

In other road commission news:

-- The road commission suspended a seal patching operation used to repair and stabilize several deteriorating roads, including Holiday and Rasho roads. Gillis said she ran out of money and materials and can't continue without cutting other services.

-- The road commission board voted 2 to 1 to give all administrative staff other than Gillis pay increases of 2.5 percent. Commissioner Dave Taylor voted no, while commissioners Walter Hooper and Jim Maitland approved the pay increases. The raises are lower than 2008, when the top three road commission supervisors received raises that averaged 7.6 percent. Gillis currently earns $99,000 a year and the board will consider a pay raise for her after it completes her annual evaluation.

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