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The Boardman River (/bɔːrdmən/ BORD-mən), also known as the Ottaway River (/ɒtəweɪ/ AH-tə-way) or the Boardman–Ottaway River,[1] is a 28.2-mile-long (45.4 km)[2] river in the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It rises in western Kalkaska County, and flows west and north through Grand Traverse County to Grand Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan, in downtown Traverse City. The river’s watershed drains an area of 295 square miles (760 km2) through a combined 130 miles (210 km) of river and tributaries. Additionally, the Boardman River is considered one of the top ten trout streams in Michigan.[3]

History

Siphoning operations draining the reservoir behind Boardman Dam in July 2017; this operation realigned the watercourse under the Robbins Bridge (foreground).
The Boardman River in downtown Traverse City along the Sara Hardy Farmer’s Market, 2015
The Boardman River near its mouth in downtown Traverse City; the land on the banks of the river in this location is urbanized, including some public greenspace.

Prior to European settlement, the river was known as adaawewiziibi, roughly translating from Ojibwe as “river of trade”.

In the year 1847, Captain Horace Boardman of Naperville, Illinois, purchased land at the head of Grand Traverse Bay, at a river then known as the Ottaway River.[4] With the arrival of Hannah-Lay in the 1850s, the river was colloquially, and later officially, renamed the Boardman River. Recent movements have sought to change the name of the river to its original name, either in full or abbreviated (i.e. Boardman–Ottaway River)[5][1]

Later in 1800s, as Traverse City was first being settled, the Union Street Dam was built by the Hannah-Lay Company as a saw mill in 1867.[6] Around this time, citizens were dumping sewage into the Boardman, which was causing severe health problems. The lake became very industrialized. The western shore of the lake was used for a log rollaway and rail yard on the Great Lakes Central Railroad, used as such until the early 2000s.[7]

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 an 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]

Course

The Boardman River follows a rather unusually-shaped course. The river rises from streams and swamps in central and western Kalkaska County, flowing generally west–southwest and west before reaching Blair Township in Grand Traverse County, where the river turns due north, and flows into Boardman Lake in Garfield Township. Upon exiting Boardman Lake, water flows northwesterly, before turning back due east, forming a U-shape around downtown Traverse City, collecting Kids Creek along the way. The river then angles northeast, finally entering the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay.

Boardman Lake is a natural body of water (which would exist even without impoundment by the Union Street Dam[24]) along the lower course of the river, about a mile upstream from the river’s mouth at Grand Traverse Bay. The lake is located within Traverse City and Garfield Township. This lake is also a popular recreational and fishing lake.[25] It has an abundance of bluegill, largemouth bass, northern pike, smallmouth bass, sunfish, walleye, and yellow perch.[26]

Crossings

The following road bridges lay on the main course of the river, entirely within Grand Traverse County.

Name Route Type City Location
Murchie Bridge[27] US 31/M-37/M-72 (Grandview Parkway) State highway Traverse City 44°45′53″N 85°36′46.7″W / 44.76472°N 85.612972°W / 44.76472; -85.612972
Park Street Bridge[28] Park Street City street 44°45′52.5″N 85°37′05.6″W / 44.764583°N 85.618222°W / 44.764583; -85.618222
North Cass Street Bridge[29] Cass Street City street 44°45′53.1″N 85°37′15.8″W / 44.764750°N 85.621056°W / 44.764750; -85.621056
North Union Street Bridge[30] Union Street City street 44°45′53.7″N 85°37′25.9″W / 44.764917°N 85.623861°W / 44.764917; -85.623861
West Front Street Bridge[31] West Front Street City street 44°45′50.6″N 85°37′38.8″W / 44.764056°N 85.627444°W / 44.764056; -85.627444
Trunk Line Bridge Union Street City street 44°45′43.3″N 85°37′25.8″W / 44.762028°N 85.623833°W / 44.762028; -85.623833
American Legion Memorial Bridge Cass Street City street 44°45′41″N 85°37′15.7″W / 44.76139°N 85.621028°W / 44.76139; -85.621028
East Eighth Street Bridge[32] East Eighth Street City street 44°45′33.9″N 85°36′59.7″W / 44.759417°N 85.616583°W / 44.759417; -85.616583
South Airport Road North Culverts South Airport Road (westbound) County road Garfield Township 44°44′00.7″N 85°36′59.8″W / 44.733528°N 85.616611°W / 44.733528; -85.616611
South Airport Road South Culverts South Airport Road (eastbound) County road 44°43′59.7″N 85°36′59.8″W / 44.733250°N 85.616611°W / 44.733250; -85.616611
Robbins Bridge[33] Cass Road County road 44°41′55.3″N 85°37′24″W / 44.698694°N 85.62333°W / 44.698694; -85.62333
Beitner Road Bridge[34] Beitner Road County road Blair Township 44°40′29.7″N 85°37′50.5″W / 44.674917°N 85.630694°W / 44.674917; -85.630694
River Road West Bridge[35] River Road County road East Bay Township 44°38′49.2″N 85°37′50.5″W / 44.647000°N 85.630694°W / 44.647000; -85.630694
River Road East Bridge[36] River Road County road 44°38′39.9″N 85°32′08.8″W / 44.644417°N 85.535778°W / 44.644417; -85.535778
Garfield Road Bridge[37] Garfield Road County road Paradise Township 44°38′13.1″N 85°31′05.6″W / 44.636972°N 85.518222°W / 44.636972; -85.518222
Brown Bridge Road West Bridge Brown Bridge Road County road 44°38′32.2″N 85°30′54.7″W / 44.642278°N 85.515194°W / 44.642278; -85.515194
Brown Bridge Road Middle Bridge Brown Bridge Road County road Union Township 44°39′06.1″N 85°27′18.7″W / 44.651694°N 85.455194°W / 44.651694; -85.455194
Brown Bridge Road East Bridge Brown Bridge Road County road 44°39′24.5″N 85°26′18.6″W / 44.656806°N 85.438500°W / 44.656806; -85.438500
Supply Road Bridge Supply Road County road 44°40′29″N 85°23′45.7″W / 44.67472°N 85.396028°W / 44.67472; -85.396028
The American Legion Memorial Bridge, which carries Cass Street over the Boardman River near downtown Traverse City, 2010

Drainage basin

The Boardman River drains the following municipalities (italicized municipalities are those which the river drains but does not flow through):[38]

The Boardman River also drains the following lakes:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Clark, Sierra (March 20, 2022). “Rupture, recovery: Boardman-Ottaway River’s future flows from past”. Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived March 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, accessed November 21, 2011
  3. ^ Boardman River Natural River Plan (PDF). Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
  4. ^ Tanner, H.S. (1836). “An New Map of Michigan with Its Canals, Roads & Distances” (Map). Tanner’s Universal Atlas. Not to scale. Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner. Retrieved November 17, 2017 – via Old Map Downloads.
  5. ^ “The Ottaway, A River Reborn”. Into The Outdoors. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  6. ^ a b “The Boardman-Ottaway: A River Reborn” (PDF). Conservation Resource Alliance. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
  7. ^ “History”. Grand Traverse Journal. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  8. ^ a b “Dam Project”. www.theboardman.org.
  9. ^ “Dams | Grand Traverse Journal”. December 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  10. ^ “Boardman Flood: Heartbreak, Relief, Questions”. February 1, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. ^ Brown Bridge Dam Failure Report. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
  12. ^ “Boardman River Watershed – The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay”. July 6, 2022. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  13. ^ Scott, Allison (March 28, 2016). “Traffic rerouted for Cass Road Bridge construction”. Up North Live. Traverse City, Michigan: WPBN-TV. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  14. ^ Pagan, Gabriella (September 21, 2016). “Traverse City native, 85, first to cross Cass Road Bridge”. Up North Live. Traverse City, Michigan: WPBN-TV. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  15. ^ Pagan, Gabriella (September 21, 2016). “Traverse City native, 85, first to cross Cass Road Bridge”. WPBN. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  16. ^ Schuit, Rachael (October 3, 2018). “Removal of third dam along Boardman River underway”. WPBN. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  17. ^ akleidon@record-eagle.com, Aly Kleidon (November 22, 2025). “GRAND TRAVERSE CONSERVATION DISTRICT: Footbridge installed at former Sabin Dam”. Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  18. ^ “With Union Street Dam Out, FishPass On Schedule For 2027 Completion”. The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  19. ^ “Great Lakes Fishery Commission – FishPass”. www.glfc.org. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  20. ^ LaFond, Kaye (January 17, 2020). “Traverse city will be first in the world to sort fish for passage upriver”. Interlochen Public Radio. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  21. ^ “FishPass”. City of Traverse City. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  22. ^ gellison@mlive.com, Garret Ellison | (April 14, 2026). “Boardman River flooding prompts evacuations near Traverse City”. mlive. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  23. ^ “Local State of Emergency Declared in GT County”. The Ticker | Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  24. ^ Hettinger, Heather. “Boardman Lake Grand Traverse County Boardman River Watershed” (PDF). www.michigan.gov.
  25. ^ “Boardman Lake Fishing-Maps-Fish Species-Depth-Size-Boat Access”. www.fishmich.com. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  26. ^ “Boardman Lake”. Lake-Link. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  27. ^ Mahieu, Devon (June 28, 2019). “Murchie Bridge in Traverse City experiencing high water levels”. Up North Live. Traverse City, Michigan: WPBN-TV. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  28. ^ “Park Street Bridge”. HistoricBridges.org. Retrieved October 29, 2022.[self-published source]
  29. ^ “North Cass Street Bridge”. HistoricBridges.org. Retrieved October 29, 2022.[self-published source]
  30. ^ “North Union Street Bridge”. HistoricBridges.org. Retrieved October 29, 2022.[self-published source]
  31. ^ “West Front Street Bridge Opens July 1st”. City of Traverse City. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  32. ^ “Eighth Street Bridge Work Starts This Week”. The Ticker: Traverse City News & Events. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  33. ^ “River – Paddle Middle Boardman”. Grand Traverse Conservation District. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  34. ^ “Beitner Road over Boardman River, Grand Traverse County, Michigan”. BridgeReports.com. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  35. ^ “River Road in Grand Traverse County to Close Starting Monday”. 9 & 10 News. Cadillac, Michigan: WWTV-TV. March 14, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  36. ^ “East River Road – Grand Traverse County, MI”. Valmont Structures 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  37. ^ Link, Mardi (July 23, 2020). “Bridges over expensive water: Bids for repair rise high”. Traverse City Record-Eagle. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  38. ^ “11363116-large.jpg (Boardman River Watershed)”. MLive.com. Retrieved June 12, 2018.