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Last month, in a show of unity that is becoming much more common in northern Michigan, leaders from across the political and business spectrum announced the formal start of a multi-year project to conduct a five-county land use and transportation study for the Grand Traverse region.

The Michigan Land Use Institute captured the highlights of the event, which occurred on May 18, in this multi-media presentation, the first ever produced by this organization.

Among the invited dignitaries was Kirk Steudle, the director of the Michigan Department of Transportation, who praised the partnership and the project as unique in Michigan and announced that his department would contribute $50,000. The department’s grant brought to $200,000 the amount the region has raised from Grand Traverse County, the Grand Traverse County Road Commission, Garfield Township, and Traverse City. The local funds are a required match to qualify for more than $1 million in federal funds to undertake the five-county land use and transportation study, the first of its kind in a rural region in the United States.

The Institute is closely following the development of this promising land use and transportation study, which resulted from a 2004 decision by Grand Traverse County and the county Road Commission to develop a more effective and efficient alternative to a proposed bridge across the Boardman River Valley south of Traverse City. For the Institute’s coverage of the events leading up to that decision see our archive of articles here:

http://www.mlui.org/Transportation/trans.asp?pid=18&key=3?=1&proj=13