Snowmobile damge to new White River bridge

[Hamilton Reef]

On December 11, 2001, the White Lake community had a dedication of the extension of the Hart-Montague State Park and fishing deck. This RR 244-foot trestle renovation project took 2-1/2 years of work to write the grants, get permits, complete construction, and cost $131,000. The bridge is the jewel landmark joining the two cities of Whitehall and Montague across the White River.

Today we are looking at green grass, bare sidewalks and snowmobile damage at our new bridge across the White River. Bets were made at the dedication on how long it would take the snowmobiles to try and destroy the new bridge. Only two days of snow at Christmas won the bet.

It is completely illegal for snowmobiles to run anywhere in the city of Whitehall so the bridge was blocked on both ends with several 55-gal barrels filled with sand. The city of Montague blocked their trail to the bridge also. The barrels must weigh a few hundred pounds each.

We had only one snow period for a week with bare minimum of snow needed for snowmobiles. Within two days the snowmobiles ran illegally to the bridge, moved the heavy barrel barriers, and ran back and forth across the new deck wood (with their sharp studded tracks) to deliberately destroy the beautiful new soft wood structure. They then came back for the extra work of moving the heavy sand filled barrels to push them off into the marsh and river just for spite. Yes, it only took the first two days of snow in 2001 for the snowmobiles to ruin the surface of a brand new bridge!

The news of the snowmobile damage to our brand new bridge is all through the White Lake area. It is now also going to be on several Internet forums all through the state. It only took the first two days of snow for the snowmobiles to live up to their reputation.

[NEO]

Sounds like a bunch of kids to me, or a bunch of adults that need to grow up. How terrible.

[trout]

I hope they find the criminals and make them pay for the damage PLUS.
Very sad picture:(

[Sarge]

YUP CRIMINALS.

Stuff like that should be punished every bit as hard as any other crime. It sounds like someone with snowmobiles were mad that they couldn't ride there. So they took it out on the rest of the outdoor society. They should be shot right in the carburator.

[Hamilton Reef]

There are now large cement walls on the White River bridge. The city of Whitehall and Montgue just put in place two cement highway barriers one ontop of each other at both ends of the bridge. It looks like two former Berlin walls of Germany. They're ugly, but certainly not going anywhere. There is just enough space to walk around for the trail users. It does ruin any photography of the bridge for tourist promotion.

Last night I was at a MUCC district meeting. There were comments at the meeting how the length of the Hart-Montague State Park trail surface has been damage by the snomobile grinders. The center of the trail is now unusable by the skaters and any park users that need a smooth surface.

Also, the adjacent Clear Springs Nature Park in Montague Township next to the rail trail just opened this summer. They tried to allow snowmobiles in the park, but the trail was quickly turned into mudrunner track. The adjacent property owners said the snowmobile experiment was ruined in the first week. They will probably not renew permission to cross properties next year. We will have to repair and reseed the park this spring.

[Sarge]

I guess that since I don't like cold I don't get out enough. Why would the snowmobilers go out when the ground is not covered well enough or frozen enough? Doesn't regular dirt, (mud etc from too shallow snow) damage the machines?

But then I guess its a mindset. Probably those same guys go out and buy a brand new 4X4 pickup for $30K and go see how badly they can get it stuck and tear up the transfer case. I personally try to get my stuff to last as long as possible, which automatically deters me from doing dumb stuff. ( on purpose anyway)

[jpollman]

This story SICKENS ME !
If they were caught, they should be forced to pay for ALL DAMAGES plus a hefty fine. Although I'm sure the chances of that are SLIM and NONE.:(

I don't have any idea what the area looks like up there but maybe there could be another solution to the concrete barriers.
Sounds like they might just be a temporary measure to prevent any further damage. I'm sure somebody else has already thought about it but here goes. Why not sink some 4 or 6" pieces of pipe into the ground and fill the with concrete. Just space them 24" apart or so. That way the snow machines could not get through will pedestrians and bicycles still could. They wouldn't be as obtrusive and would serve the same purpose. I doubt it would be very expensive either.
Well, just thought I'd throw in my .02

[multibeard]

This doesn't surprize me in the least. I had a chance to admire the tressle project in December after I finished a duck hunting trip east of U.S. 31. really was beautiful. Fished off of the tressle in the 50's when I was growing up. My father had a service station on the causeway in Montague. The bridge and handicap fishing platform over the river were beautiful. The rest of the Hart-Montague trail has a snow depth limit but most people could care less about the damage they leave behind. I live near the Silver Lake dunes and you should see the damage to private property done by the orvs when the get bored with or can't get on the dunes. They could care less. You can't keep them off. They will take brand new trucks on the dunes and then pay someone to haul them off with a wrecker all beat to pieces. My boys called them TOURONS!!!one/half tourist and two/thirds moron.