GOOD HART — The beauty of Michigan Highway 119 comes from above — a luscious canopy of maple and birch that is so thick it blocks out the sky.
Trouble, however, is brewing below.
A part of the roadway in the northwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula was washed away during widespread flooding last month, and it won’t be coming back anytime soon.
Shops and eateries in Good Hart and Cross Village are fretting about the damage to the highway. Dubbed the Tunnel of Trees, it’s the biggest tourism draw in the region.
The broken roadway could dissuade people from visiting during the spring and the even more popular fall periods, they said.
It may already be happening.
The Good Hart General Store noticed a drop in business earlier this month, but wasn’t sure whether it was related to the road damage or the weather.
“I’m very concerned. I hope the state acts quickly,” said Ami Woods, co-owner of the store.
The Michigan Department of Transportation said it’s too early to say when the highway will be fixed. Surveys of the damage were delayed by the wet conditions, MDOT spokesperson James Lake said.
Woods said she has been in close contact with state officials but didn’t want to share what they said.
The Good Hart General Store posted a frequently asked questions section about the issue on its Facebook page Tuesday, which wasn’t very optimistic.
“Is the road repaired?” it asked. “Hopefully by summer 2027.”
How the Tunnel of Trees got its name
The Tunnel of Trees lives up to its nickname.
The sliver of asphalt runs 20 miles from Harbor Springs to Cross Village. It winds along a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, sometimes offering an expansive peek of the water.
But the real show is above, where light filtering through braided branches gives the multiple-colored leaves a glow. During the fall, it’s like driving through a painting.
Carmen Bosch moved to a home along the roadway from Holland in west Michigan a decade ago.
“I love living here,” Bosch said. “The view is wonderful. The sunset is beautiful.”
This ribbon of tranquility was visited by a deluge in early April.
A creek that runs under M-119 north of Good Hart turned into a river after heavy rains and melting snow.
The mounting water pushed against the sandy bluff holding the road. It eventually severed the street, opening a chasm 75 feet long.
Workers couldn’t begin reconstruction until the water receded and the ground dried, said Lake, the state transportation official. The process is further complicated by other factors.
Workers have limited access to the spot, which is bordered by private property and environmentally sensitive land, Lake said. The sandy nature of the bluff also makes it susceptible to erosion.
“We have several challenges. The right of way is very narrow,” Lake said.
A damaged tourist magnet poses danger for businesses
Woods, co-owner of the Good Hart store, was harried earlier this month. Some 1,700 cyclists were going to be passing through her tiny, sleepy hamlet the following day.
It was the annual Zoo-de-Mackinac bike ride, which runs along the Tunnel of Trees as it stretches from Harbor Springs to Mackinaw City.
Woods, 52, jumped from one task to another as she quibbled with a customer and then a store worker.
“The one industry in north Michigan is tourism,” she said. “Why do you think I’m being so awful?”
Her hopes that officials would quickly tend to the damaged road were already dashed.
Mike Sullivan, a retail packaging supplier, said local businesses need tourists to survive, and the thing that brings them here is the Tunnel of Trees.
“It’s a beautiful drive when going through northwest Michigan,” Sullivan said. “People love to come here.”
As for the bike run, the number of cyclists was down this year. Past years have drawn 2,500 participants.
This year, the riders used several roads to detour around the damage. One cyclist, Josh Hovey of Lansing, said it wasn’t much of an imposition.
The route still allowed people to visit the most popular haunts along the Tunnel of Trees: the general store, Legs Inn in Cross Village, Trillium Woods Coffee south of Good Hart and Pond Hill Farm north of Harbor Springs.
“It’s still as beautiful as ever,” said Hovey, a partner in the Lansing-based communications firm Bellwether Public Relations.
He and his wife, Jena, visit the area two or three times a year. This was his 10th Zoo-de-Mack.
Besides the view from above, Hovey, 42, loves what he sees along the road, Lake Michigan on one side and a white carpet of trillium on the other.
Tunnel of Trees catches one break
Residents and businesses found one silver lining in the damage to their beautiful byway.
The Tunnel of Trees was going to be closed anyway this spring for chip sealing, which occurs once a decade. It will begin presently and last until late July.
The sealing 10 years ago hurt tourism but ended before the fall, when the changing color of leaves draws the biggest crowds to the area, said resident Jane Hull.
She worried the gaping hole in the highway would last long past July and throughout the fall tourist season.
“I can’t imagine it being finished this year,” Hull said. “They have a lot to do.”
Fdonnelly@detroitnews.com
(313) 223-4186
@prima_donnelly
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tunnel of Trees roadway’s flood damage has tourist businesses jittery
Reporting by Francis X. Donnelly, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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