Determining State and Federal Transportation Responsibilities to Residents on Islands

Michigan residents are choosing to live on Drummond, Neebish, and Sugar Islands located in St. Mary’s River in the eastern Upper Peninsula, and on Beaver Island located in Lake Michigan off the coast of Charlevoix. The residents expect the same access to work, emergency services, and economic opportunities on the mainland as mainland residents receive. There are limited resources available to subsidize service and repair of the four separate docks on the islands. This research should identify the state and federal responsibilities for the following: (1) level of service provided to the island residents, (2) repair/maintenance of docks on the islands, (3) number of back-up ferries needed, as ferries are required to be removed to drydock every five years for Coast Guard inspection/repair, (4) the requirement/need for maintaining a ferry with crew 24/7 for emergency services, and (5) whether ferries on all islands need to be able to accommodate logging trucks.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Contract Numbers:

  2021‐0207

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Michigan Department of Transportation

  Murray Van Wagoner Building
  425 West Ottawa, P.O. Box 30050
  Lansing, MI  United States  48909
• Performing Organizations:

  Michigan State University, East Lansing

  Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
  Institute for Community Development
  East Lansing, MI  United States  48824-1226
• Start Date: 20210115
• Expected Completion Date: 20220901
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Ferries; Level of service
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01776478
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Michigan Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 2021‐0207
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 14 2021 8:24AM