COTC - 17 Apr 2026 - Beitner Road Closed For Months

Beitner Road Closed For Months As Flooding Recovery Continues
• Beitner Road in Grand Traverse County is expected to remain closed for up to six months due to severe washouts from recent flooding
• South Airport Road could reopen within about a week, depending on continued cleanup and water levels
• County officials say multiple roads, culverts, and drainage systems were heavily damaged, with repairs expected to take weeks to months
Source
Traverse Ticker
Weather – Traverse City (Next 36 Hours)
TODAY
Widespread fog before 10am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 73. Light southwest wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Tonight
A slight chance of rain and thunderstorms, then rain and possibly a thunderstorm after 11pm. Low around 43. South wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Saturday
Rain showers before noon, then scattered rain and snow showers between noon and 5pm, then scattered snow showers after 5pm. Temperature falling to around 39 by 11am. West wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Saturday Night
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Good morning, Northern Michigan. This is your cup
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of Traverse City for the 04/17/2026.
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I'm Mike, and
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I am in Arlington, Texas in a
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semi luxurious
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hotel room with hotel coffee.
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And,
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yeah. Sorry for not having an episode yesterday.
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I was on an airplane.
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Actually, probably sitting on the tarmac at Traverse
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City waiting for the weather to get better.
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But,
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we'll,
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we'll,
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worry about that later.
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Anyway,
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yeah. I hate to keep bringing
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bad news, this week, you know, with all
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the flooding and stuff, but,
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you know, I just have
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to bring this up, the Beitner Road Bridge,
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you know, between,
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well, goes between Keystone Road and, Chum's Corners
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there, which is a major artery as I'm
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sure you guys have found out with all
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the weird traffic patterns,
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is likely to be out for six months.
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That's just
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not good.
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And, you know, the South Airport Road, Logan's
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Landing
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could be a long term thing, but
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it looks like maybe if there's not a
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lot of damage when the water recedes, they
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might be able to get that opened up
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sooner
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rather than,
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taking six months. But,
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man,
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okay. I'm gonna go into an opinion here.
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I I really don't think it was a
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great idea taking out Brown Bridge Dam,
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Sabin Dam, the one there on Cass, and
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I don't know what the status of the
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Union Street Dam is, whether they took it
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out or what they're doing down there.
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But,
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yeah, the the the river
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they did it to bring the river back
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to its natural
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course,
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its natural
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state. And that's all well and good, but
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its natural state is to flood.
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So
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we gotta build our infrastructure
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in such a way that that isn't going
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to take out
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bridges and culverts and
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and and other things and buildings. I mean,
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you know, all that development along the Boardman
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River.
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You know, they got the basement of, you
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know, one of the buildings. The,
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parking garage is flooded. Well,
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you guys took out all the bridges.
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And then also, you know, as far as
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East West corridors across Traverse City, okay, so
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we got two major ones,
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down and and, of course, that puts more
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stress on 8th Street and Front Street and
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Parkway and Munson Avenue and all that.
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You know, it's just going to cause
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havoc when one or two of the main
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arteries,
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you know, East West in Traverse City or,
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you know, up towards Benzie County and Interlochen
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and all that.
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It's gonna cause havoc. Just,
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you know. So they had that proposal for
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the Hammond Hartman Bridge,
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that would have gone over
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the river area and connected 31
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to,
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to,
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Hammond Road. Well, you know, Hammond Road is
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a pretty big road. You know? It's that's
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a good East West corridor. That would take
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a lot of that would've
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caused a nonissue because I think most people
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would've just taken,
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Hammond Road across to Hartman and up 31
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rather than going out to Chums Corners,
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on Beitner Road. So
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I don't know. But anyway,
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just was that such a great idea to,
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fix the Boardman River so now it's naturally
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flooding?
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Yeah. You know, it's been a little extraordinary
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with
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a little. It's been extraordinary
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this year with, you know,
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a whole bunch of rain on top of
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a blizzard a couple weeks ago.
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You know, just lots of water.
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I'm telling you. It's,
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I I think
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I think we should have rethunk
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the bridge thing.
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You know, maybe if they put the Sabin
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Dam back up,
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in some capacity
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and, you know, bring back Sabin Pond.
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All those people that lived along it probably
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enjoy that.
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But, who knows? Probably built condos in there
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or something. Yeah. I'm grumpy. I woke up
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in Texas this morning, so
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there it is.
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Let's see. Weather today for Arlington, Texas.
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I don't see. It's coming up slow, but
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it's gonna be 85
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and,
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partly cloudy. So, anyway, Traverse City, though.
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Let me get there.
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This morning, widespread fog before 10AM. Otherwise, sunny
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with a high near 73.
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So, you guys are gonna get some nicer
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warmer weather, but
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whatever. Light southwest wind becoming five to 10
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miles per hour.
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Tonight, a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms.
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Just what they need. Just what we need.
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And the rain and possibly a thunderstorm after
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eleven. Low around forty three. South wind,
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10 to 15 miles per hour, as high
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as 30.
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Change of precipitation,
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80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and
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a half an inch. That's significant ish on
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top of what we've had.
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And,
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tomorrow, rain showers before noon, scattered
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rain and snow showers before noon,
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in 5PM.
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Snow showers. Oh, jeez. There's that word again.
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Snow. Anyway, I'm gonna be down here in
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Texas till Sunday.
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So,
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y'all,
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stay dry,
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and I will catch you on Monday.



