The Harbor Way
Harbor Inc. strives to ensure long term sustainability of recreational assets for both quality of life and a vibrant local economy.
The Little Traverse Wheelway is a non-motorized trail running 26 miles around Little Traverse Bay from Harbor Springs to Charlevoix. The Wheelway was constructed in segments over a period of years with the most recent segment, a four mile stretch along M-119 from the Harbor Springs Airport to Kosequat Park at the eastern outskirts of the City of Harbor Springs, completed in 2010. Harbor Inc., a nonprofit organization formed in 2000 for the purpose of working with local jurisdictions and organizations in the greater Harbor Springs area to cooperatively implement ideas that benefit the community, was instrumental in promoting the completion of the most recent segment.
Harbor Inc., along with the City of Harbor Springs, has always envisioned that the Wheelway would eventually extend into downtown Harbor Springs (currently there is some confusion among Wheelway users on how to actually get downtown from Kosequat Park). To that end, plans were made in 2018 to create a final segment connecting with the Wheelway at Tourist Park on the east end of Harbor Springs via a surface crossing of M-119 near the Lake Street intersection. However, when a FEMA-related project was constructed to mitigate potential (but very infrequent) flooding from the Shay Drain (an intermittent stream with a relatively large watershed extending several miles north of Harbor Springs) by building a large box culvert under M-119, it was envisioned that this could do “double duty” in the form of a safer underpass for the Wheelway.
The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has regulatory authority over the Shay Drain culvert. When MDOT was approached about using the culvert for a trail underpass, they were not supportive, citing safety concerns about potential floodwaters. To gain greater understanding of the nature and frequency of water flow through the Shay Drain Culvert, a hydrologic study was implemented by Harbor Inc., in conjunction with City staff and the City’s engineering consultant (Benchmark Engineering) in 2021 and 2022.
This hydrology study assessed the impacts of 68 precipitation events over a 16 month period, as wella s one spring snow melt. The study found that runoff down the drain and through the culvert never occurred with less than ½” of rain. During the most intense rain event (2.5” of rain in several hours, including a 15-minute peak burst of rain equivalent to 5 inches per hour), water depth in the culvert reached a little more than two inches—seemingly not enough to have presented a safety hazard for any bikers or pedestrians who happened to be in the culvert at the time.
The results were presented to MDOT, and they subsequently issued a permit for use of the culvert as a trail underpass in February, 2023.
Harbor Inc. has been involved with the Harbor Way project since its inception. Below is the 2003 feasibility study Harbor Inc. commissioned for the Little Traverse Wheelway project - a prime example of how Harbor Inc. looks to improve the area by capitalizing on its natural resources and working with the community to make it happen.
