ICING UP?

Article Photos

AuTRAIN - Officials in Alger County are renewing their efforts to gain permission to redirect the AuTrain River to prevent upstream flooding.

About this time each year, AuTrain Township officials begin to worry about ice jam conditions at the mouth of the AuTrain River north of M-28.

In past years, sand has clogged the waterway, forming a delta, which slows water flow.

When the early winter storms begin, especially with prevailing westerly or northwest winds, ice forms over the shallow waters of the river at the mouth.

The river then clogs and backs up into basements and crawlspaces of upstream homes.

Over the years, local officials have worked with the Michigan Department of Transportation and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, trying to gain permission to reroute the discharge of the river.

They have argued that if a less meandering course for the river was dug, the more direct path would likely increase stream velocity and keep sand flushed out of the mouth.

But MDOT officials are concerned redirecting the river may erode sand at the base of the highway bridge along M-28, potentially undermining the span.

"The township does have a dredging permit, but it's for such a small amount it wouldn't do any good," said AuTrain Township Supervisor-elect Millard Fillmore.

This week, township and county officials visited the river mouth to inspect current conditions. Water is reportedly shallow at the delta, but with mild conditions so far, no ice has built up.

Alger County Emergency Management Coordinator Rebecca Wilder said officials are planning to renew pleas to legislators to help gain MDOT or DEQ approval for more dredging and changing the water course.

At one point, state officials said a new hydrologic study should be undertaken before the river could rerouted. The township says it cannot afford to fund such a study.

"We're going to be appealing to state legislators," Wilder said. "What they (state agencies) will allow us to do (now) will not be effective."