M-26 at the Silver River down to one lane until fall 2022

The trip between Eagle River and Copper Harbor is going to have a traffic snarl for at least a year. The Michigan Department of Transportation has closed the east lane of M-26 as it passes over the Silver River in northern Keweenaw County.

Spokesman James Lake says the historic stone retaining wall has been sagging for much of the summer, with the displacement accelerating in recent weeks. The problem was picked up during routine bridge inspections, and the wall is now around 10 inches from where it should be.

Lake says that MDOT doesn’t know why the problem has cropped up.

Since the stone wall is on the National Register of Historic Places, the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office has to be consulted on any path forward. Lake hopes the retaining wall can be salvaged, but depending on what engineers find during a review into the forces causing the decay, its days may be numbered.

A permanent solution is not expected to be in place until fall 2022.