Posted on May 11, 2021
MUSKEGON, MI – Though Lake Michigan water levels have dropped, parking threatened by erosion at Pere Marquette beach’s far south end will remain closed off perhaps for several years.
Severe erosion has caused a hazardous steep drop-off in front of the parking spots that the city of Muskegon blocked off about a year ago.
While most of the 100 spots along that stretch of Beach Street that were closed have reopened, 34 spots remain blocked with concrete barricades. They’ll remain closed as the city works for a permanent way to protect the pavement and a crucial water main that lies beneath it, said Muskegon Public Works Director Leo Evans.
That permanent solution is a limestone wall that would be buried under the sand except during extraordinary erosive events when it would be exposed, he said. The wall would be a $6-8 million project conducted and funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and could take several years to get approved, Evans told MLive.
The city deposited some broken concrete in that area, known as “the curve,” to help protect the pavement and water main, Evans said. But much of the concrete and other debris was deposited in the 1980s during a prior high-water period, he said.
It had been covered by sand dredged out of and pumped from the Muskegon Channel, and then uncovered by the erosion, Evans said.
Such dredging by the Army Corps typically is required after lake levels recede following periods of high water, Evans said. That means the Muskegon Channel could need dredging in a few years, he said.
Farther north on the stretch of parking between the water plant and the city’s dog beach, the city has removed some of the concrete to create pathways to the beach. But most of it will remain to eventually be covered by sand again, Evans said.
