The late surge of winter weather is causing delays in the planned reconstruction of South Airport Road and the start of Traverse City's spring leaf pick-up program.

The start of the South Airport Road project - which will include the complete reconstruction of the corridor between Veterans Drive and US-31 - has been pushed back to Monday, April 23. It's the third delay for the project, which was originally scheduled to start April 9, then pushed back to April 16. This weekend, the Grand Traverse County Road Commission delayed the project until April 17 before announcing the start date was being rescheduled for April 23. The first phase of the project, expected to last through May, will reduce traffic to just two lanes on South Airport Road – one moving in either direction. A later, second stage will likely see the corridor expand to three lanes of traffic. Crews are aiming to complete construction by July, though that timeline could be adjusted for weather or other delays.

Meanwhile, Traverse City staff announced Monday that the city's leaf pick-up program - which was scheduled to begin next Monday (April 23) - is being postponed until the snow has sufficiently melted. "Please do not place any items along the street edge or in alleys," a city release states. "We will let you know when spring leaf and brush pickup has been rescheduled, along with the specifics." A new start date has not yet been scheduled for pick-up. City Manager Marty Colburn told city commissioners Monday that crews moved so much snow over the weekend the city's areas for snow storage were "almost maximized."

"They moved 10,000 yards of snow from the downtown area this weekend," Colburn said. "So that gives you an idea of the sheer movement of what came down in a very short period of time."