Where do you stand this winter to watch the red lights at the end of the channel? For decades there were two answers. You could walk out the South Pier from the state park, or you could drive around to Ferrysburg and look back at the lights from the Fisherman's Pier. Visit Grand Haven described that second spot as a place to watch boats come in, fish, birdwatch and catch the sunrise or sunset with the lighthouses in view.
This is the first off-season without that second answer. In its July 2026 update, the same page says the North Pier is closed for a $9.25 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers overhaul that began in April, with pedestrian access expected to stay shut until late 2028. For the next two winters, every walk out to the lights starts on the Grand Haven side of the river. The Ferrysburg shore is still worth the drive, but for dunes and open beach, not for the channel.
What is being built across the channel
The North Pier is getting more than a resurfacing. MLive reported in March that the Corps will remove a 325-foot section of the concrete and sheet-pile pier and replace it with a rock wave attenuator, then top it with a new concrete walkway. The reason is the water between the two piers. According to the Corps, the sheet-pile walls date to the 1950s. Waves bounce off them back and forth across the Grand River channel and combine into larger waves. The rock section is meant to absorb that energy before it reaches boats heading into the harbor.
Liz Wilkinson, the Army Corps operations manager in Grand Haven, described the job to MLive in plain terms:
"We will be removing a 325-foot section of the concrete and sheet-pile structure that's there and will be replacing it with a pile of rocks. Then, we will install a new concrete walkway on the crest of the structure."
The contractor is Great Lakes Dock and Materials, a Muskegon company. It stages a barge and crane and sometimes works from both sides of the pier. MLive also noted that the closure began just as spring steelhead anglers start using the pier in earnest. The same report said demolition and pile driving would bring noise and vibration across the channel from Grand Haven State Park.
A calendar with a winter gap
Here is the published schedule:
- April 1, 2026. The Coast Guard's Local Notice to Mariners lists this as the start date for Great Lakes Dock and Materials' pier construction at the Grand Haven North Pier.
- November 30, 2026. The same notice lists this as the completion date for this year's operation.
- Winter. According to MLive, no work happens in winter, in rough conditions or during the Coast Guard Festival. In-season hours run 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
- March through June, 2027 and 2028. State environmental restrictions bar work in the channel during these months.
- Summer to late 2028. WGVU reported an expected finish in summer 2028, and Wilkinson told MLive the work "may end up proceeding through 2028 summer." Visit Grand Haven gives late 2028 for pedestrian access.
The restricted months matter here. Each work season gets squeezed between the spring restriction, the August festival and the end of the year, which helps explain how roughly two and a half years of closure produce a project MLive described as spanning three summers. When the barge leaves after November, the pier stays closed, and work picks up again once the channel restrictions lift.
The south side carries the whole load now
With Ferrysburg's pier off the map, the South Pier is the only way to walk out to the lights. Visit Grand Haven points walkers to the beach at Grand Haven State Park, 1001 S. Harbor Drive, as the access point for the boardwalk and lighthouse views. The DNR describes the park's half-mile of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline and requires a Recreation Passport for vehicle entry.
The walk out has more to offer than it did a year ago. On June 23, 2026, the Outer Light and Fog House opened to visitors for the first time, a change MLive covered as the end of 151 years off-limits. In an August profile, The Hollander laid out how the building works. There are three levels. The first two are free, and climbing to the third, for the view from the keeper's position, costs $5. Posted hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting. A sign at the start of the pier tells you whether the doors are open, depending on conditions on the pier and on the lake. Visit Grand Haven lists the same days and excludes holidays and bad weather. As November turns colder, that sign is the schedule to trust. The Grand Haven Lighthouse Conservancy site is the place to check before making a special trip.
There's still interior work ahead. The Hollander reports that a 2026 grant from the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program will finish the inside of the outer lighthouse, with completion targeted for Memorial Day 2027. The same article explains who handles what on the pier. The Army Corps controls the piers, the Coast Guard maintains the lights, and the city built and owns the catwalk so a keeper could cross safely in bad weather.
The approach from downtown has had recent work too. The City of Grand Haven scheduled boardwalk repairs at Lighthouse Connector Park to begin September 17, with completion expected the week of October 12, 2026.
What the Ferrysburg side still offers
The north shore loses its channel walk but keeps its trails and beach, and the county's posted winter hours suit a late-afternoon outing. Ottawa County's winter schedule runs October 16 through February 28.
| Place | Address | Posted hours | Winter notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coast Guard Park | 18161 North Shore Road, Ferrysburg | Year-round, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. | No city park entrance fee; parking and trailhead for North Ottawa Dunes |
| North Ottawa Dunes | about 18201 North Shore Drive, Ferrysburg | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Oct. 16 to Feb. 28 | No entry fees; trail access from Coast Guard Park |
| North Beach Park | 18775 North Shore Drive, Ferrysburg | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in winter | Parking fees run Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day; modern restrooms closed in winter |
With the pier closed, a Ferrysburg outing moves inland and up the shore. Coast Guard Park works as the parking spot for a loop through North Ottawa Dunes, and North Beach Park offers open Lake Michigan beach a short drive north. Both are a better fit for a winter afternoon now than heading toward a pier walk that ends at a construction fence.
South of town, two more ways to reach the lake
For sunsets over open water, two county parks south of the city keep the same winter hours, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Rosy Mound Natural Area, 13925 Lakeshore Avenue, is a 0.7-mile route to the shoreline that includes 1,000 feet of dune stairs. Kirk Park, at 9791 Lakeshore Drive N in West Olive, has a paved lot, and its restrooms close for winter. Parking fees at both apply only from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
When the lake decides
The South Pier is now the only pier route out to the lights, so when it is unsafe, no other pier is available. Grand Haven's Department of Public Safety advises people to stay off the pier and off Lake Michigan ice formations, warning that icy water can create extremely dangerous and sometimes fatal conditions. On those days, Visit Grand Haven's suggested lighthouse view from the beach at Grand Haven State Park is the one that keeps you off the structure.
If you're weighing a place near the channel, whether on the Grand Haven side or along North Shore Drive, the details covered here shape everyday life there: which shoreline you can reach and when. When you want to talk through how lake access changes from one part of the Tri-Cities to the next, Steven A Elder is glad to walk it with you. Explore West Michigan Listings.
