WILLIAMSBURG — Michigan State Police paid tribute Wednesday to a trooper killed in the line of duty in Grand Traverse County in 1987.
State police officials hosted a private formal ceremony and unveiled the memorial sign naming the section of U.S. 31 between Three Mile Road and Bunker Hill Road, the Trooper James E. Boland Memorial Highway to honor Boland who died July 26, 1987.
Boland was one of 250 law enforcement officers who came to the city to maintain safety during the National Governors’ Conference in 1987. He was directing traffic at the intersection of East Front and Barlow streets in Traverse City when he was hit by a speeding 1975 Buick Century that then fled the scene.
The conference had gathered here to “review laws and bills to safeguard others” but “ideas alone cannot provide protection,” Traverse City Post First Lt. Commander Roger Craig said Wednesday. “It is the trooper who makes them real. It is the trooper who stands (between) order and chaos,” he said. “Trooper Boland was one of those men, willing to stand in harm’s way.”
First aid was administered to Boland, but he was pronounced dead at Munson Medical Center just before 1 p.m.
The driver of the Buick was stopped shortly after the incident and they discovered she was intoxicated. She was arrested for manslaughter and pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in July 1988.
Sgt. Bert Richards has pushed for a memorial for Boland since 2018. He served nearly half his career with the state police in Traverse City, first from 2005 to 2011, then again from 2016 to 2024. He found out about Boland’s death when researching the history of the post.
“He was up here to keep the big event that was happening up here in 1987, to keep the people safe and he didn’t go home that night. That really moved me and I thought, ‘You know what, we need to have a forever memorial for this gentleman’s sacrifice,’” Richards told the Record-Eagle last year.
Richards then reached out to local legislators with the idea of a memorial highway and worked with other organizers to fundraise the $3,800 required for the Michigan Department of Transportation to rename it, add signs to that section of highway and pay for maintenance of the signs.
Boland’s family attended the event and his son, Michael, said his family was thankful to everyone involved in getting the road dedication.
“It’s been a long time coming and we’re just happy to see it’s done,” he said.
For more than 39 years, Boland’s family and Michigan State Police have not forgotten that “he gave everything he had for the profession he chose,” Craig said.
“But today is different. Today, we honor Trooper Boland’s sacrifice in a way that belongs not only to this department, but to the state, to this community and to all those who travel our roads,” he said.
Boland had a 20-year career with the department, serving in multiple posts that spanned more than 1,300 miles.
“Each assignment represented another chapter in a career and duty defined by honor and courage,” Craig said.
State Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, introduced the final bill that was signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in August 2025. It passed with unanimous bipartisan support.
Roth, who attended Wednesday’s event, gave all of the credit for the establishment of the memorial to Richards and said it was a privilege to be part of the dedication, adding that “it just took too long.”
Roth said he was in Traverse City for the first time in 1987 when he heard that a trooper had been struck and killed there.
Since that day, “it’s never left me,” he said.