The project to rebuild M-185 on Mackinac Island and protect it against future erosion has been completed on time and on budget, according to MDOT.
They say M-185 is approximately eight miles long, and is the only Michigan highway that does not regularly allow automobile traffic. Most of M-185 is within and maintained in cooperation with the Mackinac Island State Park.
The project began in May. It repaired and upgraded armor stone along M-185, primarily along the Eastern and Northern shores of the island. It also included pavement repairs to previously washed out and damaged roadway.
MDOT says they invested about $6 million in 2021 to repair highwater and wave erosion damage on the shoreline of M-185. They say about four miles of the highway around the island sustained severe damage that escalated in the fall of 2019 and the winter of 2020.
“In 2020, it was a disaster out here,” said Director of the Mackinac State Historic Parks, Steve Brisson. “The high lake levels were eroding the road into the water. Large chunks of it were washed away; the rest of it was often covered in boulders.”
MDOT states that the project represented a third and final phase of road work after earlier emergency repair project were finished. They say the work was designed to restore a safe pavement surface on M-185 and prevent further damage caused by erosion.
“We had to come to a decision,” said Brisson. “We either had to let the road go or do what MDOT did here. And it’s a remarkable job, and this is what it will take to preserve this remarkable roadway.”
MDOT says pavement markings will be painted on the road next year as part of a region-wide painting contract.
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