ISLAND ROAD PAVING BEGINS SOON!! UPDATE 5-6-2014

sbsp · Post by **sbsp** » Sat May 17, 2014 2:12 pm

If speed and danger are the concerns about paved or gravel roads, please consider this. Donegal Bay Road to include Allen's Lakeview Road has a speed limit of 55 mph by law from the end of the black top in the harbor to Buddy's Trail. McCauley's Road from King's Hwy to the East Side Road is also 55 mph by law. Michigan law states that all rural gravel roads, unless marked otherwise, are set at 55 mph by the Michigan State Police. The law also states that roads within a residential subdivision, such as PSJA, are 25 mph but only if paved. To expand my example, every road within PSJA as well as every gravel road on BI is 55 mph by law.
In the mathematical example above, I would be willing to pay on a mileage for a little longer period in order to hopefully prevent another death on BI.

Cheers - Kirk

Terry Frysinger · Post by **Terry Frysinger** » Sat May 17, 2014 6:12 pm

Pave away. I don't get to vote on it anyway. I do appreciate the opportunity provided by the B.I. Forum to at least voice my opinion.
I'll leave you with one other line from the song about turning paradise into a parking lot:

"You don't know what you've got til its gone.".

BI Pirate · Post by **BI Pirate** » Sun May 18, 2014 11:17 am

Flanagan, For what it's worth, Richie and I always see EYE to EYES, it's just that we don't always agree.

But then again, I have a wee bit of Irish in me which means that Richie, you and I could all be related.

Richie and others feel strongly about paving while Terry and others feel strongly about their position. Hopefully, everyone over there can continue to be friends and work together to come up with the right balanced outcome. God help me, I don't want anyone moving over to Whiskey Island over this paving issue, Terry excepted.

Skull&CrossBones

Post by **Gillespie** » Thu May 22, 2014 10:57 am

By all accounts it will not be possible to get additional work done this year but it appears that the conversation(s) went pretty well hopefully setting up something for next year but your continued interest will be vital in this.

I am not a township official but am elected to serve numerous townships in the county as a commissioner. I would be delighted to serve on a steering committee to see this through. I would also like to see Gary Voogt on that committee if he will serve and selected township officials as deemed appropriate.

Although delayed this could give us an opportunity to apply for bike path lanes and so on. The 12,000 views this topic has gotten prove a groundswell of interest in doing something not to mention the comments and phone calls I receive every day.

What do you folks think??

Bill Schneider · Post by **Bill Schneider** » Sat May 24, 2014 8:32 pm

People who know me might be surprised that I am by no means opposed in principle to paving roads such as Darkey Town (I still like the old name for its history) and others. But there's a lot to consider first. One of them is the state county road design specifications. Back when I was president of the then BI Property Owners Association these required clearing of all trees to the edge of the 66 ft road easement among many other things. The road commission then insisted that roads could not be paved without meeting the specifications. This was a good way to make it far too expensive to pave, not to mention the horror of tree clearing, etc.

To avoid this I suggest that, as part of a long range strategy, we get the roads designated as "natural beauty roads" which would exempt them from the state specifications. Then we could pave the roads as they are if....

If we knew where funds for maintenance were coming from, if we could solve the problem of seasonal load limits, knowing that many businesses need to run heavy equipment year-round. And would we Beaver Island free spirits even consider moderate speed limits? We wouldn't need bike lanes if we had those limits and could save some money.

Road paving will take a serious long term effort and probably some politicking at the state and federal level to leverage what money the townships and county can come up with. As an example, I have been told by a road commissioner that we don't pay enough gas taxes here to get anything done. Never mind that BI people buy a lot of gas in Charlevoix and not driving much in the county itself. This issue is likely common to all inhabited Michigan islands. An alliance of them might carry some weight in Lansing.

Trish Scott · Post by **Trish Scott** » Sat May 24, 2014 8:38 pm

Thank you for some excellent points to ponder, Bill.

Post by **Gillespie** » Mon May 26, 2014 11:30 am

Bill, in short the ditching, etc. would not/could not be done in the full right of way fashion. None of us would be so interested in that. It has to fit the nature of the island! Everyone gets worked up about the "go faster if paved" thought but the dust and bumps and people needing to get from one point to another makes them appear to be flying down the road at nearly any speed. Paving would improve things on many fronts. Like any locale, personal responsibility and law enforcement need to be a part of this. As to loaded vehicles anyone of us are subject to load limits and can only haul partial loads if that during those times.

The road commissions reluctance had moreover with with being asked to pave with "their" money. That's not going to happen! If our legislators keep increasing the money pool for paving perhaps we would get some but if you were a betting man....?

As previously stated this needs some study and cannot be put on the back burner. Getting some concepts approved and then applying for bike lane money from the NRTF is going to take effort.

BI Pirate · Post by **BI Pirate** » Mon May 26, 2014 3:44 pm

Good points Richie. Trish has a better one. I was trying to think of the word to use for when townships jointly work together to solve common problems. "Ponder", that's the word.

That should buy another 10,20 years.

Skull&CrossBones

Trish Scott · Post by **Trish Scott** » Mon May 26, 2014 8:57 pm

A truly efficient form of governance is a tyranny. Democracies are built for inclusion and approaching a consensus. A democracy is a slow process.

BI Pirate · Post by **BI Pirate** » Tue May 27, 2014 10:23 am

Trish, I meant no offense by ponder and apologize if taken as such. Ponder is a thousand dollar word, put another way it simply means, we intend to have discussion on the matter. Its cosmetic value looks great, but its numeric value can still be 10,20 years.
I like your hierarchy of governance efficiency. Whiskey Island governance is tyranny, me, which I know to be very good. Beaver Island governance is more of a benevolent dictator within a democracy which is good sometimes. Charlevoix governance, using the term loosely, is a democracy which is.......well.......Charlevoix. I'll ease up on Charlevoix once my truck is released from impound for alleged parking violations at the airport.

Skull&CrossBones

Maureen Abele · Post by **Maureen Abele** » Sat May 31, 2014 7:34 am

There are alternatives to asphalt. Here's an eco-friendly solution that's worth investigating.... http://naturalpavingsolutions.com/index.html.

Post by **Gillespie** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 1:35 pm

Just leaving work I saw some tourists stopped right were the pavement stops by my property at Darkeytown Rd. There were obviously looking at a map to make their next move in the Tracker they had rented but what was pretty obvious and a little humorous, they were wearing filter masks. Does that tell us anything!!!

Pam Grassmick · Post by **Pam Grassmick** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 7:56 pm

I understand that dust control is soon on the way to our gravel roads. Rich, where is the county grader that we use every June to get the roads in shape for the dust control? I haven't read any updates.

Pam

Post by **Gillespie** » Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:50 pm

Woeful story Pam, I intend to comment on that next week, I don't feel services promised are provided as they should be and hope to see you at our board meeting. That being said, the county commissioners do not run the road commission, we appoint their members, their members hire their management. All of us, and many have ignored and have been juxtaposed into thinking things are automatic are letting us all down, small example but reality!! We hire, elect, appoint and more but most people don't give a damn causing a greater loss!

Post by **Gillespie** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:22 pm

Ready for some more good news? I was informed that there is a high probability that the asphalt plant will be removed from the island after Kings Highway is completed this year. For all of those who say hurry up and wait, this is not good news. It further complicates the possibility that we can pull together and get some more road improvements done in another year. I can assure you I am and will do my part to convince the owners to keep it here but it IS privately owned so they can do as they wish.

I am also happy to mention that I convinced the county to raise the road on the North side of Tights Hill one foot which generally floods out every spring so that will abate that problem. They raised the grade 2' on the South side of Tights through Big Willie's swamp which is a huge improvement.

The mobilization costs of the paving project were 600 grand, we don't want to lose that plant, do we?