It was mid-summer 2015 when Team Elmer's headed up to Sault Ste. Marie
to undertake the reconstruction of the city's Ashmun Street. The Michigan Department of Transportation, thanks to a grant from the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Alternatives Program, had the budget to complete the full project. As a result, the project morphed from a simple repave into a full reconstruction, involving 0.27 miles of hot mix asphalt, concrete curb and gutter work, sidewalks, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main, and lighting. 

Imagine drawing a perfect circle. Now picture yourself doing so in the dark...and you’re holding your pencil with your toes. Sounds tough, right? A recent Team Elmer’s earth retention project was just as tough.
The City of Benton Harbor was updating its water filtration plant to boost water processing from 10 million gallons per day to 12 million per day.

There are environmental cleanups…and then there are environmental cleanups. To address historic impacts to sediments that resulted from the migration of groundwater contamination to Boardman Lake in the late 1970s, a large remediation effort was performed.

The boathouse needed approximately three feet of water so the boat could be pulled in and out. To accomplish this, a silt containment fence was placed in the lake and a berm was excavated to hold back the water. The building’s footings are five feet below the water table, but throughout the project an eight inch pump ran continuously to keep the water level under two feet in depth to allow the work to be completed.

As part of a complete soil remediation project, Team Elmer's removed more than 15,000 tons of contaminated dirt from Butch's Tackle and Marina in Bellaire. Releases from an underground fuel storage tank contaminated soils and groundwater near the outlet of the Clam River into Torch Lake.

For years, residents of Traverse City have awaited the replacement of the Cass Road Bridge. The bridge is one of the only ways to get to the other side of the Boardman River in that part of town, but it is also far from convenient. A one-way road over a dam, the existing bridge can create bottlenecks or queues of cars depending on the time of day. 

The truth about concrete and asphalt – they usually don’t work well together. Enter the US-31 Highway reconstruction at Chum’s Corners, which decided to use both methods to solve the increasing amount of traffic funneled through that intersection.

The City of Manistee discovered two sinkholes occuring along the edge of railroad tracks on the south side of the city. The cause was determined to be a 52-inch collapsing double-walled brick storm sewer-installed in the early 1990s - that ran along the tracks and discharged into the Manistee River. 

In 2016, the City of Traverse City had to find the right company to repair the problems to the splash pad, break wall and kayak launch to maintain public safety. Team Elmer's was the low bid on the City of Traverse City re-engineered work.

Team Elmer's has put the finishing touches on the Honor-based Reynolds Road Bridge, which spans 72 feet across the Platte River. The project, which was made possible through generous grants from the Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Conservation Resource Alliance, will help to eliminate washouts into the Platte River.

Picture the site: Deadstream Road, a gorgeous old two-lane roadway in Benzie County that connects US-31 and M-22. The road itself is short—only about 4.43 miles between those two major northern Michigan highways. For many local residents, though, it’s long been one of the most beautiful drives in the area. Tranquil and serene, the road runs through a heavily wooded area, with some of the biggest and most established trees dating back as far as 150 years.

Spring and early summer 2015 saw Team Elmer's working in downtown Charlevoix, where an MDOT project called for a major project on a key city street. The project demanded the replacement of water and sewer lines for a three-block stretch of the city's State Street. While the work didn't put Team Elmer's on Bridge Street -- Charlevoix's busy main drag -- it did place is just one block over on another busy road. 

Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature.

Elmer’s got to work in late April, implementing a trio of three-step filtration systems that will greatly cut back on bacterial contamination and keep problems like “Raccoon-gate” from recurring in the future.

Our Team tested two auger cast piles prior to starting in order to verify the pile design was correct and could hold a 40-ton pile. We then inserted points into the ground and on the building, installing a laser level measurement apparatus to ensure building integrity during installation. Numerous overhead lines and underground utilities required additional patience, and every plane of the construction site demanded diligence.

Team Elmer’s might encounter unforeseen obstacles when completing a project, but we never get bogged down. Such was the case in East Jordan, where we broke up the soil – and the project into two parts.

Team Elmer’s completed reconstruction of the .93-mile road, including a complex and meticulously timed, seven-staged process that had to ensure all businesses and homes remained open throughout.

 Team Elmer’s battled tight working conditions twenty feet underground to line more than 120 feet of 80-year old sewer pipes and grout and coat 10 four-foot diameter manholes.

The ground-breaking expansion project launched on the heels of an announcement from General Mills that the company had signed agreements with partner companies to acquire a 51 percent controlling interest in the Yoplait brand and a 50 percent interest in a related company that holds the worldwide Yoplait brands of products for approximately $1.1 trillion.

When Rohde Construction of Kentwood, Mich. was contracted to build the new Glen’s Market in Manistee, Mich., it discovered an expensive problem: how to move 65,000 yards of fill across a major state highway to raise the foundation of the construction site – without stopping traffic and breaking the bank.

Team Elmer’s dug up the old system and installed the new—a network of heavy six and eight-inch pipes and water valves supplied by Etna Supply that, by the end of the project, spanned roughly 30,000 feet (six miles!) in length. We also connected 285 water meters to ensure fair and consistent billing for residents and businesses.

The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is an iconic symbol of the Traverse City region, a splendid high rise, towering above an expansive golf course, and visible across the scenic Grand Traverse Bay. It’s also one of the most illustrious and luxurious getaways in northern Michigan, with a slew of shops, a restaurant with one of the finest views in town, and a five-star hotel being just a few of the attractions. Now, thanks to Team Elmer’s and their numerous partners, the resort has a five-star parking lot as well.

East Bay Charter Township was adding a new water tower and water main loop. The township had limited water storage capacity, which meant that its existing water towers, storage tanks, and mains were at capacity.

For years, Holiday Road, the busy gateway to the suburban areas of Traverse City’s Holiday Hills, has been plagued by massive potholes and disintegrating shoulders. Thanks to the devoted and tireless actions of some of Holiday Road’s more vocal residents, as well as a generous grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, in coordination with the Grand Traverse County Road Commission,Team Elmer’s went to work to fix the problem once and for all.

I-75 is a central freeway in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, from the crossing at the Mackinac Bridge all the way up north to the Canadian border. So when two large culverts on the portion of I-75 between Sault Ste. Marie and Dafter reached the end of their usable service life, getting them replaced quickly and efficiently was essential. Team Elmer’s competitive bid was awarded the construction contract by MDOT to remove the 50-year old culverts and replace them with newer models.

Republic Waste had a short timeline and a tall order to fill – constructing a new seven-acre landfill cell with 193,550 cubic yards of earth excavation. Team Elmer’s answered the challenge, travelling all the way to Indiana, ensuring perfect conditions were met in creating an addition to the Hoosier State’s County Line Landfill.

When new owners set their sights on King’s Challenge golf course in Cedar, they knew they wanted to create a world-class golf destination and needed it to be done quickly. Bob Kuras, president of The Homestead in Glen Arbor and the man named to head the operation, enlisted trusted contractors like Team Elmer’s to ensure flawless completion at a breakneck pace.

Begin with the fact that the proposed driveway was to be 1,200 feet long -- with a 124 foot rise in elevation leading to the home (with a fantastic view of Grand Traverse Bay!) Next, consider that time, money, and regulations were all limited. But no problem for our dynamic duo of Eric Sanborn and Jack Morris!

It’s not difficult to see why Lower Shore Drive is one of the most popular rides in Northern Michigan for cyclists and motorcyclists alike. The roadway, located in the beautiful and quaint waterfront community of Harbor Springs, Michigan, puts cyclists and drivers just a stone’s throw from the shores of Lake Michigan. In the summer especially, the road offers unbeatable scenic views and a quiet, relaxed atmosphere.

South Airport Road is one of Traverse City, Michigan's busiest roads—a street that not only houses the entrances to Cherry Capital Airport and a slew of businesses, but one that many residents also use as an east-west traffic corridor to access to the outer Traverse City area. Until recently, South Airport Road at Lafranier Road also played host to a less desirable feature: one of Traverse City's most dangerous intersections.

As part of Michigan’s trunkline highway system, M-113 is a well-traveled road that runs through Grand Traverse County and connects the residents of Traverse City to the main drag highway of US-131. The road runs through hilly country and features numerous twists and turns that can make it a dangerous drive in the dark or in the wintertime.

Highway M-115 is a key highway in northwest Michigan, stretching nearly 100 miles from Frankfort to Clare. In the summer of 2016, Team Elmer’s oversaw reconstruction on a 6.46-mile stretch of M-115 within Benzie County. The project involved asphalt crushing, shaping, and reconstruction of the road, drainage, and traffic signal work for the entire six-and-a-half-mile span.

Take a drive down M-37, past Buckley and North of Mesick, and you’ll see some of the latest Team Elmer’s handiwork. The Michigan Department of Transportation wanted to a reconstruct a section of the two-lane highway, in order to reduce overall pavement grade and boost traffic safety, and Team Elmer’s got the job.

In years past, drivers heading south from Traverse City on M-37 had to be especially cautious when they reached the intersection at M-115. The junction between these two Michigan highways never seemed like it should have been a big problem, but dozens of accidents over the years and plenty of complaints from drivers calling the spot the most dangerous intersection in the state forced the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to pay attention.

Team Elmer’s realized early on two key aspects to the project that would require special focus: maintaining traffic and a significant elevation change. The 5.33-mile stretch of road was located in a part of the county where no other real detour options existed. In other words, Team Elmer’s had to implement a range of improvements on a road that needed to remain open to traffic at all times.

Previously, the city’s sanitary sewer and the storm sewer were two parts of one system. Both would flow to the Manistee Waste Water Treatment Facility for treatment, and additional storm sewer volume being treated would cost the taxpayers money. The problem was during a significant storm event, the treatment facility would be over capacity and overflow volumes would release both storm water and sanitary sewer water directly into the Manistee River.

In the 20th century, if a building no longer served its purpose, it was torn down to make way for a new one. Fortunately, we’ve evolved, and many well-built, historic and beautiful buildings are getting facelifts and all-new, 21st century uses.

Have you ever seen an alligator in Marion, Michigan? When water sits upon a roadbed for a prolonged period of time causing deterioration and cracking, in the hallways at Team Elmer’s, it’s referred to as “alligatoring.”

Martin Marietta, a leading producer of high purity magnesium oxide and magnesium hydroxide products, was adding a new facility next to their existing vertical storage tank. The plans called for a 17-foot excavation at the face of the vertical storage tank to make room for the new construction.

In 2014, Team Elmer’s helped the Michigan Department of Transportation install an 11.5-foot, 8,000-bolt culvert on I-75, near Sault Ste Marie. As a result, when the Leelanau County Road Commission needed help with a similar culvert installation in the summer of 2015, we were the natural candidates for the job.

The Main Library at Michigan State University serves as the center for the campus community’s knowledge base, on-campus-research, and quiet study. However, it houses many aging items that require temperature and humidity control for their preservation. This is accomplished using devices called steam absorption chillers, which create chilled water for the building's air-conditioning system.

It was the spring 2013, after several years of mild winters and dry summers, that the Village of Northport applied for a grant to dredge the local G. Marsten Dame Marina. The area hadn’t been dredged since the early 1990s, and local officials were concerned that if the trend of dipping water levels continued for another two or three years, it would render the marina unusable. 

Oleson’s Food Store, when building their grocery store on the corner of Three Mile and Hammond Road, got off to a late start with permitting delays. Still trying to meet an early spring opening, Team Elmer’s stepped up to the task, getting this project back on track.

And you thought concrete was made to be tough and impenetrable...well, it is! A type of concrete that's actually designed to be porous has the State of Michigan and others taking note as they seek ways to save land, dollars, and the environment.

In 2019, the Michigan Department of Transportation plans to reconstruct a stretch of US-31 near Petoskey. Part of the highway runs along the edge of a steep slope, and the area is plagued with erosion problems. The 2019 highway reconfiguration will move part of the roadway so that it isn’t situated right on the edge of a slope. However, until then, MDOT needed a temporary solution to prevent erosion and protect the well-traveled highway. Enter Team Elmer’s.

At the end of the summer, Team Elmer’s began a long and complex project on Pine and State Streets in Traverse City, Michigan. We were tasked with an almost complete replacement and overhaul of the sewer, water, and storm utilities throughout two blocks of downtown Traverse City. Pine and State Streets utilities needed nuanced attention, and all work needed to be completed with minimal disruption to the city’s thriving downtown business scene.

As Traverse City’s downtown area has expanded and segmented into separate “districts,” the area has become more vibrant and bustling than ever before. The increasing use of the area has also left some districts feeling separate from the rest of the downtown area—an issue that low bid Team Elmer’s was contracted to help solve with a recent project.

Sometimes, persistence really does pay off. When Team Elmer’s contacted Insitueform-Detroit, a Michigan water utility company, they never expected that the phone call would turn into an award-winning project on the other side of the Canadian border. But after Insitueform-Canada contacted the Detroit branch in search of a manhole rehab contractor for their local sanitation systems, Detroit contacted Elmer’s, and the project was off to the races.

Since its opening in 2007, the North Central State Trail has allowed for scenic travels up Michigan’s northern lower peninsula. After the Michigan Department of Transportation supplied a $1.48 million federal Transportation Enhancement grant in 2006, and more than 40 local clubs, businesses, organizations and units of government offered match dollars, Team Elmer’s signed on to the task of resurfacing the trail with compacted crushed limestone.

With the gap between the Warehouse District and the rest of downtown successfully bridged—both literally and figuratively—Team Elmer's set to work on the next stage of Traverse City's revitalization plans. This time, we set up shop on Garland Street, a road slated for realignment and falling into disrepair; greatly impeding the Warehouse District's chances at growth and redevelopment.

At Team Elmer’s, we pride ourselves on our ability to overcome any obstacle we encounter. When we were tasked with getting 1,100 tons of 8-inch stone down a 70-foot vertical slope, we had to adapt to get the job done. Faced with the seemingly simple errand of digging up two feet of mud and soil and arranging fabric and rock from the top of the slope to the river’s edge, the topography quickly became treacherous.

Sara Lee, known for their pies and baked goods, has a bakery plant located in Traverse City. When the factory needed a new recipe for their floors, Team Elmer’s provided the main ingredients: floor cutting with fugitive dust control and ready mix concrete.

It’s not every day that a company has the privilege of establishing miles of new natural animal habitat. But thanks to a partnership between the Conservation Resource Alliance (CRA), Lake County Road Commission, Wade-Trim, and Team Elmer’s, hundreds of thousands of fish and other species now have miles of new tributaries and spawning habitat along the Silver Creek outside Cadillac.

When Team Elmer’s was contracted to work on the Silver Drive project – revamping a little-used road near the south end of the Grand Traverse Commons and connecting it to Silver Lake Road in order to generate a southern entrance to the Commons – we were prepared for a messy job. A wetland environment and a profusion of deep muck meant more attention to detail was critical for completing this complicated job.

Good Morning America viewers named Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as the Most Beautiful Place in America. Thanks in part to Team Elmer’s, that pristine coastline will now have a handicap-accessible, family-friendly trail -- open to wheelchair bound nature enthusiasts, families with strollers, and novice bicycle riders averse to motorized traffic.

Two years ago, Team Elmer’s broke ground on one of the highest profile projects in our history, a 27-mile, non-motorized trail designed to wind along the widely renowned Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The project, which was funded in part by both the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Authority, was always going to be a massive undertaking. A marathon-length, paved trail that would allow bikers, joggers, hikers, and other non-motorized adventurers a spot to explore this beautiful environment in leisure, away from both sand and road.
 

A few years ago, the National Park Service began a mammoth undertaking, to construct a 27-mile non-motorized trail in Northern Michigan's famed Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Team Elmer’s submitted the low bid to construct the first three phases of the award winning trail, working with the Michigan Department of Transportation and Friends of the Sleeping Bear Dunes to complete the task.

Sometimes, Mother Nature just doesn’t want to cooperate. Such was the case for Team Elmer’s as we prepared to transport a massive aboveground fuel storage tank from the docks of Ironton, Michigan to the shores of South Manitou Island. The 12,000 gallon tank, used to hold diesel fuel to run the Island’s generators and equipment, was intended to replace a rundown unit of the same vein on South Manitou.

Northern Michigan is known for many things – beautiful vistas, lakes for fishing and boating, wildlife, agriculture and farming – cherries most specifically. When you hear the term tart – you usually think of cherry pie - but that does not always apply. The TART Trail is a network of paths throughout the Traverse City region that allows pedestrians and bikers alike to enjoy the peaceful vistas of our area without worrying about traffic signals and road enraged motorist. The trail system will expand to eventually include several recreational trails reaching beyond Williamsburg to Suttons Bay.

When the Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) faced a complicated parking and traffic issue with a very tight deadline at one of its middle schools, the call went out and Team Elmer’s answered.

BATA Transfer Station in Traverse City opened with a royal welcome, or at least a legislative one... US Senior Senator Carl Levin toured the new BATA Transfer Station. With Gold LEED certification any royal would welcome, the opening of the BATA Transfer Station fulfilled a long battle to be built.

You know the frustration. You’re driving on a crowded stretch of road when suddenly you’re hit with lane closures. Traffic comes to a standstill. No one really knows what the delay is for and the highway crew seems disinterested in your predicament. Oh, and it’s a hot summer day and the kids are fighting in the back seat. That could have been the case when a busy portion of US Highway 31 just east of Traverse City, Michigan, was reconstructed in April-June, 2015. But it wasn’t.

Hot August days and endless sun can keep things pretty dry in Northern Michigan. But our crew at the Village at Bay Ridge had no problems keeping cool with the amount of water they were fighting. Catch basins set at 18 ft. depths caused some interesting work days on the job site. High ground water and extremely wet conditions are a challenge for any crew, but Team Elmer’s was up for the task.

Locals have long considered West Central Avenue overdue for repair, but it wasn’t until mid-2016 that the Mackinaw City Village Council approved a proposal to rehabilitate the road.

After years of wear and tear, more than 15 miles of the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail in Osceola County received a major facelift.

Baseball fans' hearts are picking up a few beats. Those three little words that inspire passion in people are soon to be uttered – Let’s Play Ball. You have to be a baseball fan for those words to inspire passion, but there are a few local people who have that type of passion. John Wuerfel is one of them.