Michigan's Great Lakes shoreline is one of the most erosion-active coastlines in North America — and the past decade made that clear. From 2013 to 2020, Lake Michigan water levels rose dramatically, reaching record highs in 2020 and driving widespread bluff failure, beach loss, and infrastructure damage along the eastern shore. In South Haven, consultants identified over $16 million in needed infrastructure repairs. In St. Joseph and Berrien County, beaches and coastal roads disappeared. MDOT tracked more than 40 sites compromised by erosion during that period.
Michigan's Lake Michigan bluffs are composed largely of glacial till and clay deposited by the Laurentide Ice Sheet — materials that erode rapidly under sustained wave attack and destabilize from freeze-thaw cycling and groundwater movement within the bluff face. When lake levels rise and the protective beach buffer narrows, wave energy reaches the bluff toe directly, accelerating retreat.
GeoStabilization International engineers revetment systems, bluff stabilization, and bioengineered slope protection across Michigan's most vulnerable corridors — with in-house geotechnical engineers who design the solution and field crews who build it under a single MDOT-ready contract.
Michigan's erosion conditions aren't uniform along the lakeshore. Bluff height, glacial till composition, groundwater drainage patterns, wave exposure, and proximity to infrastructure all vary significantly between the Sleeping Bear corridor in Leelanau County, the Allegan and Berrien County shorelines, and Lake Superior's Upper Peninsula coast. A protection approach that performs well in one setting can underperform in another without site-specific investigation. GeoStabilization International's engineers and geologists assess formation-level conditions at each site before any design decision is made — using survey-confirmed data on bluff geometry, soil stratigraphy, drainage behavior, and wave energy to determine the appropriate protection system for your specific corridor.
Quantifying how fast a bluff is retreating — and what's driving that retreat — is the foundation of any durable protection design. GeoStabilization International uses UAV surveys, historical aerial comparison, and field investigation to establish site-specific retreat rates and identify the primary failure mechanisms, whether bluff toe erosion from wave attack, internal drainage and slumping, or freeze-thaw deterioration of the bluff face. That assessment directly informs revetment sizing, armor placement, and drainage design.
Michigan's coastal erosion season doesn't end when summer does. Freeze-thaw cycling weakens glacial till in bluff faces through winter and early spring. Ice scour along the shoreline can displace protection materials and expose previously stabilized bluff toes. And when significant ice cover fails to develop — as occurred during the high-water years — wave energy reaches the bluff throughout winter with no seasonal buffer. GeoStabilization International's engineers account for Great Lakes-specific seasonal loading in every protection system design. MDOT and Michigan's infrastructure asset owners benefit from GeoStabilization International's integrated engineering and construction model. The engineers who characterized your bluff conditions and designed the protection system stay connected to the crews building it. When unexpected stratigraphy or drainage conditions appear during construction — which Michigan's glacially deposited bluffs regularly produce — the team adapts without losing project momentum.
A protection system that fails after the first high-water season costs far more than one engineered for Michigan's actual conditions. GeoStabilization International designs for the root cause of bluff retreat — not just the visible damage — so the fix holds through the next cycle of high lake levels.
Lake levels will cycle again — and Michigan's glacial bluffs will face the next period of high water in whatever condition they're in today. GeoStabilization International's engineers are ready to assess your site and deliver a protection system built for Great Lakes conditions. Request a coastal assessment to get started.
