Road washout shuts down Garfield Road in Grand Traverse County
Garfield Road buckled between Hammond and South Airport roads, forcing reroutes past Cherryland Center as crews repaired a water main break and repaved the failed lane.
Drivers on Garfield Road between Hammond Road and South Airport Road had to reroute Thursday after a water main failure caused part of the roadway to wash out and collapse, closing the corridor near Cherryland Center and Grand Traverse Crossing and slowing commuting, school traffic, deliveries and emergency access through one of Garfield Township’s busiest connectors.
The Grand Traverse County Road Commission had already planned a northbound east lane closure on that stretch for 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday because AT&T crews were working on utilities near Manitou Drive. Instead, a Road Commission driver was first to notice an unexpected bump in the northbound lane before the failure worsened, and officials told motorists to stay clear of the affected section.
The shutdown hit a busy commercial strip that serves Cherryland Center at the northwest corner of Garfield Road and South Airport Road and Grand Traverse Crossing on South Airport Road east of US-31, across from the Grand Traverse Mall. With the roadbed itself giving way, drivers trying to reach stores, offices and nearby neighborhoods had to use other local roads while the damaged pavement and broken water infrastructure were assessed.
By Friday morning, crews had fixed the water main failure and paving was underway, signaling that the problem had moved from emergency response into repair work. Even so, the collapse was more than a routine lane restriction: workers had to restore the utility line and rebuild the road surface before Garfield Road could reopen to normal traffic.
The washout also landed in the middle of a difficult spring for county infrastructure. Grand Traverse County declared a local state of emergency on April 14 because of flooding impacts, after the City of Traverse City said the Boardman/Ottaway River system surged to 1,120 cubic feet per second that day, well above the previous upstream record peak flow of 583 cfs set in 2014. Road Commission Manager Dan Watkins estimated about $9.3 million in road repairs across the county from storm damage.
Garfield Township is also planning other water-system work, including a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund project for lead service line replacement estimated at about $3,336,000. Together, the Garfield collapse and the broader spring flood damage show how vulnerable buried infrastructure has become across Grand Traverse County.
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