Amish To County: Let Us Build A River Crossing For Our Safety

This is one you don’t see every day: Amish in a Michigan community want to be allowed to build a river crossing to make buggy travel safer. It’s a project that would otherwise cost the government millions of dollars.

But – and here’s the kicker – the Amish want to do it themselves, bypassing red tape. Not only that, they want to cover the full cost of the project as well.

The big hurdle is that they need the powers that be to sign off, and permit them to do this on several acres of government land.

This story is out of Tuscola County, Michigan, home to a community of around 1,000 Amish people. In recent times crashes with buggies have become “an increasing concern”.

The county name might ring a bell as the site of a very bad accident this past summer involving Amish (van riders in that case, not a buggy). But it has also made news for the more common car-buggy wreck.

The River is the Thing

The issue is that there is a river in the community – the Cass River – that acts as a natural barrier between Amish homes, forcing them to travel on more dangerous, traffic-filled roads to get to where they are going.

The solution? If the Amish get their way, they’ll take over the project and build a buggy-friendly bridge “shortcut” between their properties on either side of the river.

This would make travel between relatives, travel to church service, school, and so on, faster and most importantly, safer.

In the Google Maps screenshot below, you can see the river (name circled in red) and the highway in question (M-53, also circled).

I searched “Amish store” to give a rough approximation of how the Amish community is laid out. I’m not sure where exactly on this map the bridge would cross the Cass River. But wherever they put it, it would conceivably let a lot of Amish buggy traffic avoid that main highway.

The Government’s Response

The good news is that it sounds like county and state officials are on board. This is what Michigan House Rep. Greg Alexander had to say about the idea (via the Huron Daily Tribune):

“The proposed crossing would cost millions of dollars for the county to build,” Alexander said. “I suggested for us get the bureaucracy out of the way and see if we can get them permission to use state property to build their own farm crossing or lane. The Amish have churches, schools, and property on both sides of the river. So, that’s the reasoning for their need to get across.”

It seems the Amish could do it more cheaply in part because it would not be built to accommodate motor vehicle traffic. So it would not need to support the weight of huge transport trucks, or even cars – only horse-drawn vehicles.

The project would still need some level of government oversight and cooperation in planning.

But given the well-deserved reputation of the Amish for construction, it seems like it could work out. And it wouldn’t be the first bridge the Amish have built.

Here are more of the details:

A Department of Natural Resources easement application is pending. The request seeks permission for the Amish community to build a bridge to serve as a farm lane across the Cass River to Kelly Road on state-owned land.

Because the property is state-owned, it falls under DNR regulation, monitoring and maintenance requirements.

To strengthen the application, Rep. Alexander and all members of the Tuscola County Board of Commissioners have signed off in support.

The piece of land is actually located in a game area, and helpfully contains “natural corridors” to make the project easier:

The proposed site lies within the Cass River State Game Area near Greenland Road, where commissioners estimate roughly three acres would be needed for an approximately 50-foot-wide lane.

The path would cross the Cass River and emerge on Kelly Road, creating a short connection between Amish homes, churches and farms on both sides. Officials say very few trees would need to be cleared because natural corridors already exist within the game area.

The crossing would be gated on both sides and closed to the public. Motorized vehicles would be strictly prohibited under DNR rules.

The solution wouldn’t cut out all buggy traffic on the M-53 highway, but should cut it down significantly. To that end, Alexander added:

“If it takes 50% of the traffic off the state highway, it’s worth it because of how many lives will we save. It’s about the health, safety, and welfare of all residents, so it’s unfortunate that some drivers have hit them because it’s on their conscience for life. This isn’t just the Amish’s burden, it’s the general public as well.”

And who knows, if this project works out, maybe this model – of the Amish taking the lead in joint road safety projects (buggy lanes, or other “shortcuts” of this nature come to mind) – could become a way to address safety issues in some places in a more targeted and efficient way. Let’s hope it succeeds.

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