If you plan to camp in Traverse City, Michigan, in the late summer of 2025 or 2026, you’ll need to mark Traverse City State Park off your list of options.
The Michigan DNR has announced plans to overhaul Traverse City State Park, closing it down on July 7, 2025, and reopening it for the 2027 camping season.
The project will bring numerous updates and improvements to one of Michigan’s busier state parks. We reviewed this park as part of our Michigan State Parks 100 project on YouTube. You can watch that video here. And you can check out our entire Michigan State Parks playlist here. We also wrote a blog post about the park.
Traverse City State Park improvements
The state is planning numerous changes to the campground, the entrance and headquarters building, and the beach access, including:
New park entrance
The state is building a new entrance with a traffic signal and pedestrian crosswalks, replacing the existing pedestrian bridge over US-31. This has long been an issue when visiting Traverse City State Park. The beach is across US-31 from the campground. Campers access the beach via an outdated pedestrian bridge. The DNR says the bridge is nearing the end of its life anyway, and they need to replace it with something that is ADA-compliant. Nine campsites near the entrance are closing. The DNR says it’s looking to replace them elsewhere in the campground if possible.
Demolishing the lodge
The state will tear down the three-bedroom lodge visitors can currently rent. The DNR says the lodge is outdated.
Modernized park headquarters
The DNR is relocating its park headquarters to the back of the park, between Mitchell Creek and the TART trail. The DNR is building a bridge over the creek for access.
More dump stations
To improve convenience for campers, the park’s RV dump station is doubling from two to four. This should bring a sigh of relief to anyone who has camped at the park during the busy summer months.
Improved traffic circulation
Internal traffic flow within the park will be optimized. It will be interesting to see if they address the width of the roadway. People with larger rigs often have trouble getting into this campground, not because of site sizes but because of site access. On the other hand, we’d hate to see them take down too many trees in the name of “improvement.”
Three Mile Road intersection reconstruction
The Michigan DOT is taking advantage of the park’s closure to reconstruct the intersection of Three Mile Road and US-31 to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety.
People love Traverse City State Park
We have always enjoyed visiting the Traverse City area, although Traverse City State Park has never appealed to us. It’s busy, so people must love it because of its proximity to the city’s venues and the beach. Plus, the Traverse Area Recreation Trail runs past the park, providing easy access to this great resource.
We prefer to be a little more isolated from the conveniences of city life to find some peace and quiet.
But if you like the Traverse City area and don’t mind a bit more hectic setting, Traverse City State Park should be worth checking out once the improvement projects are completed.