Baird presents 100% design to restore Little Traverse 'Miracle Mile' trailway

Baird & Associates presented a final design report to Petoskey City on restoring the Miracle Mile section of the Little Traverse trailway, Project Manager Rory Anew said during a meeting. Anew said the study has produced a 100% design package that the firm intends to deliver to the city so the project can be put out to bid.

The Miracle Mile is a roughly one-mile section of the Little Traverse trailway that was closed after erosion and collapses related to high lake levels, Anew said. “I was the project manager for Baird throughout the course of the study,” Anew said, describing work that included field investigations, soil moorings and groundwater monitoring that have been in place for the past couple of years.

The design work followed five tasks, Anew said: field investigation, site surveys and monitoring, engineering analysis, permitting and preparation of final construction documents. The team evaluated three broad options — abandoning the trailway, relocating the trailway or reestablishing it — and moved forward with a reestablishment approach. Anew said geotechnical input and landscape design support came from partner firms engaged during the study.

Doreen Aguirre, who identified herself as working with Baird & Associates, introduced the presentation. Anew acknowledged that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) provided financial assistance for much of the study.

Anew said the consultant developed cost estimates as part of the final design but noted that securing construction funding and administering construction services were not included in the project scope. “We did develop cost estimates, but essentially determining how the project would go forward or who we funded was not part of the actual scope here,” he said.

No formal vote or action to award contracts or fund construction was recorded in the portion of the meeting captured in the transcript. City staff and the consultant discussed next steps for final permitting, preparing a bid package and how the city might seek construction funding.

The presentation covered the project history, including that the Miracle Mile was constructed and later closed because of repeated erosion and safety concerns. The consultancy said the study began in 2023, included multiple field investigations and has reached a point where a contractor procurement package can be produced.

The meeting was interrupted by audio problems before the Q&A portion could begin; the transcript ends as staff worked to restore the presenter’s microphone.