The Ranger III passes under the Portage Lake Lift Bridge at 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Houghton County Administrator Ben Larson said the federal government would be granting the Michigan Department of Transportation’s request to restrict when the bridge can be lifted. Starting sometime in July, the bridge will only be required to lift for five minutes on either side of the top and bottom of the hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo)

HOUGHTON — Unexpected traffic backups at the Portage Lake Lift Bridge should be getting rarer.

At Tuesday’s Houghton County Board meeting, Administrator Ben Larson said the bridge will soon be authorized to restrict most lifts to every half-hour between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Larson relayed news from the U.S. Coast Guard 9th District, which is proposing the rule. It should take effect in mid-July, he said.

The rule will be in effect on weekdays from April 15 through Dec. 14, not including federal holidays.

Because the Portage Canal is a federal waterway, changes to bridge operations require an act of Congress.

The change comes after a multi-year effort from local municipalities and law enforcement departments to enact stricter regulations on when the bridge must be raised.

Currently, it must lift for boats at any time, including recreational vessels. That leads to frequent backlogs and a greater risk of crashes, departments have said.

Boats under 300 feet will now only go through at the appointed times, Larson said. Because of their size and limited maneuverability, it is too dangerous to keep larger boats waiting at the bridge with recreational vessels nearby, the Coast Guard said.

“If a commercial steamer comes down, or a Coast Guard big boat comes through, or the salt boat comes through, the bridge is going up at 4:40,” Larson said. “But everybody else will go up on the top and bottom of the hour.”

The Federal Register will be amended with the updated language. Monday had been the last day to make a public comment on the plan.

Michigan Department of Transportation, which owns and operates the bridge, had requested restrictions barring lifts at three rush hour periods daily, the Coast Guard said in a notification of the proposed rule.

The Coast Guard monitored traffic during a test period of the new rule. Instead of the distinct rush hours identified by local agencies, the Coast Guard observed a steady traffic flow between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., peaking around 4 p.m.

A majority of requests came from recreational vehicles, which requested 55 openings during the test period. Another 43 came from the Ranger III, which travels to Isle Royale National Park from the Houghton side of the bridge.

“The test deviation proved that the reasonable needs of navigation can still be met at the bridge with scheduled openings,” the Coast Guard said.

The National Park Service — Isle Royale Park, which operates the Ranger III, provided one of three public comments on the test. The park said the operations would cause additional expense for the NPS, and significantly impact passengers.

The Coast Guard said exempting the Ranger III from the proposed schedule “would fail to balance the transportation needs at the bridge and would eliminate the need for scheduled bridge openings.”

Larson said he had also talked with a representative from Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s office about funding a feasibility study for a second crossing over the Portage Canal. Stabenoe will try to get that funding request added for next year, Larson said.