Leaders tour FishPass site, major dam removal effort in Traverse City

The Union Street Dam site in Traverse City is being rebuilt into a test case for how Michigan handles aging water infrastructure, flood risk and river restoration at the same time. Local and state leaders toured the FishPass project on April 27, putting a spotlight on the downtown riverfront where officials say the old dam had become both a public-safety concern and an environmental liability.

FishPass is the culmination of about two decades of restoration work on the Boardman, also called the Ottaway, River. The project will replace the deteriorating Union Street Dam with a complete barrier that blocks harmful species such as sea lamprey while allowing carefully controlled passage for native fish. The design includes a 6.5-foot vertical barrier, a nature-like river channel, a fish-sorting channel, a research and education building and a park. The city says the finished structure is intended to last 75 to 100 years and is expected to be complete in 2027.

The dam’s condition added urgency. Michigan dam safety officials inspected it on May 27, 2021, and downgraded it from Good to Fair/Poor. Traverse City officials have said the old dam likely would have failed, a scenario they warned could have worsened flooding downtown and around Boardman Lake. With recent flooding still fresh in residents’ minds, the question now is whether the new system can deliver the promised reduction in risk while still keeping the river active and accessible.

The broader restoration work has already changed the river. Over more than a decade, state, federal, tribal and local partners removed three aging dams upstream, Brown Bridge, Boardman and Sabin, reconnecting more than 160 miles of river and tributaries. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project materials say the work has also restored more than 250 acres of wetlands and reconnected up to 211 miles of tributary system. EGLE says the Boardman-Ottaway effort is Michigan’s largest dam removal and river restoration project and one of the most significant in the Great Lakes region.

Construction at FishPass began May 21, 2024, with major work starting in June 2024. The city says wet in-stream construction is expected to finish in 2026, with upland work, including the research and education building, landscaping and accessibility features, following after that. During construction, Lot J is closed, the south shoreline riverwalk between Cass and Union streets is closed, and the north-side riverwalk near the Union Street Bridge remains open.

State officials say the Traverse City project is part of a larger statewide challenge. Michigan has more than 2,500 dams, about 1,000 regulated by the state, and EGLE says roughly $1 billion more is still needed for upgrades. Since 2021, the state has invested $44.5 million through the Dam Risk Reduction Program, which funded 56 projects between 2022 and 2025, including 20 dam removals, 16 rehabilitations and 20 engineering studies. For Traverse City, FishPass will be judged by whether it makes downtown safer, the riverfront more usable and the Boardman healthier for the long haul.