Boardman River

Restoration

Between 1867 and 1922, five dams were built along the main course of the Boardman River. In upstream order, they are: the Union Street Dam, Sabin Dam, Boardman Dam, Keystone Dam, and Brown Bridge Dam.^[8][6] In 1961, the Keystone Dam was washed out after flooding upstream, and was not replaced.^[9]

On October 6, 2012, while preparing to demolish Brown Bridge Dam, the highest on the river and largest in terms of impoundment, a temporary structure put in place to facilitate drawdown at the dam was breached, flooding the river valley.^[10] In June 2014 the Michigan DEQ issued a report identifying erosion around the temporary drawdown structure as the likely cause of the failure.^[11] Brown Bridge Dam removal was completed in January 2013 and resulted in the reestablishment of 2.5 miles of river channel.^[8]

In 2017, Boardman Dam and its impoundment structure were demolished, along with an adjacent one-lane bridge carrying Cass Road over the river.^[12][13] A new bridge for Cass Road over the new future river channel was completed the previous year. With the removal of this dam, the watercourse was realigned under the new bridge for the first time.^[14] The new bridge was named Robbins Bridge, after Jack Robbins, a local resident who had lived along the river for 85 years.^[15] Immediately upstream, Sabin Dam was fully removed by the end of 2018, and a pedestrian bridge was built in its place in 2025.^[16][17]

In 2024, a restoration project on the section of the Boardman River between Cass and Union Streets south of downtown Traverse City began, known as FishPass. The project includes the removal of the Union Street Dam, the final impoundment on the main course of the river (which was completed in 2025),^[18] and the construction of a weir and technologically innovative fish ladder.^[19][20] The project is expected to be complete in 2027.^[21]

2026 flooding event

On April 14, 2026, after excessive rainfall and heavy snowmelt around Northern Michigan, the Boardman River crested at 8.0 feet (2.4 m) and 7.8 feet (2.4 m) near Mayfield and at Beitner Road, respectively, setting new records at both locations. The Beitner Road crossing itself was washed out by the river, and further downstream, the river flooded Medalie Park and crested over the South Airport Road crossing, causing that roadway to be shut down. Floodwater also impacted downtown Traverse City, causing sinkholes to form near embankment walls, a retaining wall to fail at the FishPass construction site, and the closure of numerous boardwalks and parks along the river. As a result, a state of emergency was declared for Grand Traverse County.^[22][23]