South Airport Road reopened to traffic Monday afternoon following a successful review by state bridge inspectors and a team of engineers from the Grand Traverse County Road Commission (GTCRC). The road commission also announced that a traffic light will be installed on Cass Road on the east side of Hartman Road Tuesday morning at 5am. Another light is planned on Hartman/US-31 but will take more time to design and install.

GTCRC said that while "engineering staff will continue to monitor the road to ensure safety for all motorists moving forward" on South Airport Road, the corridor has been cleared to handle vehicles again. To help alleviate ongoing detour traffic from the Beitner Road bridge being down - which is expected to take at least six months to repair - a temporary traffic light will go in Tuesday at Cass/Hartman. 

"Please be aware of the new traffic pattern this creates, and use precaution on this detour," GTCRC said. "We are hopeful this will help alleviate some of the congestion at that intersection for drivers. The equipment will be the 'knock-down' temporary light that you traditionally see used at road construction projects."

On the west side of Hartman at US-31, the Michigan Department of Transportation granted "speedy approval to install a temporary light there as well," according to GTCRC. "Due to the size of the highway (five lanes), we are unable to use the same type of knock-down equipment that we can on a small intersection like Cass. Our fantastic signal department has been hard at work to create a signal that is suitable to be placed at an intersection that large. This will take a little more time as they finish fabrication of the equipment, and we ask for your patience as that work is completed. We are hopeful to have that up in the very near future."

According to a county emergency operations update Monday, the Boardman River is now officially below flood advisory stage. The Emergency Operations Center is "transitioning from response to recovery," the county said. A county emergency declaration expires Monday night; Grand Traverse County will remain covered under the State of Michigan’s emergency declaration.

Damage assessment is underway throughout the county. Residents are encouraged to report any damage to their property using an online self-reporting survey. An aerial flight was conducted by EagleView on Friday, April 17. "County GIS expects to receive data this week, which will allow them to compare properties and areas before and after the flood," according to the county.

The regional 2-1-1 hotline is available to answer questions and provide resources for county residents on returning home after flooding, as well as damage assessment and recovery. GTCRC reported that at the height of the flood response, eight roads were closed. That figure was down to four as of Monday afternoon.