Mackinac Bridge Sets Record With 12 Falling Ice Closures This Season

Twelve falling-ice closures. That's how many times the Mackinac Bridge was shut down in the 2025-26 season, setting a record high since the Mackinac Bridge Authority began tracking such events in 1995. The 12th closure came April 6.

Historically, the bridge averaged just one falling-ice closure per year over the previous 30 years. Through April 2025, roughly 32 total closures had been recorded across three decades; this season alone added 12 more, meaning this single winter now accounts for more than a quarter of every closure ever logged.

Bridge Director Kim Nowack said repeated freezing rain events coated the bridge's upper cables and towers with ice. As temperatures fluctuated above and below freezing, ice built and then fell in chunks, sheets, and spears from hundreds of feet above the roadway. Several vehicles were damaged this season; no injuries were reported.

"It's important for people to know that there may be several closures associated with one icing event," Nowack said. "Because it all doesn't come down at once, and we try to open it as much as we can."

The average falling-ice closure runs approximately 5 hours and 54 minutes, but the season's worst stretch came April 2-3, 2025, when the bridge closed for 30 hours and 4 minutes. During a four-day window from March 31 through April 3, three separate closures combined for 42 hours and 13 minutes. That storm was severe enough that Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a State of Emergency for Mackinac County.

The economic toll is measurable. January 2026 traffic was already down 5.4% year-over-year and toll revenue fell 7.3%. Authority spokesman James Lake said the disruptions extend beyond frustrated drivers: "It's also a hardship for the communities of Mackinaw City and St. Ignace that rely so heavily on it."

For a Traverse City family heading north for the weekend or a local business running freight to the Upper Peninsula, the Mighty Mac has no road alternative; the Straits cannot be crossed any other way. Check conditions before leaving home, not at the Mackinaw City exit. Text "MacBridge" to 67283 for real-time alerts, monitor MackinacBridge.org, or tune to AM 530 or AM 1610 near the Straits. When ice is actively falling, the Authority drops speed limits to 20 mph and closes the span with little warning.

Nowack summed up the season plainly: "It doesn't happen every year, some years we only have one or two closures, but this year was quite significant. We don't like inconveniencing anyone, we just know once it starts falling we're going to close.