TRAVERSE CITY — South Airport Road was closed to west-bound traffic after a sewer force main broke, creating overflow issues on the heavily-traveled road.
Additionally, Grand Traverse County Health Department officials issued a Level 4 no-body contact advisory for the entirety of Boardman Lake beginning at South Airport Road and the Boardman/Ottaway River foom Boardman Lake downstream to East Grandview Parkway. Officials advised no swimming, wading, and paddling until Aug. 27 when water quality testing may show the water meets safety standards.
The Grand Traverse County Road Commission and the Department of Public Works released separate public service announcements Tuesday urging motorists to seek an alternate route after closing South Airport Road between Park Drive and Cass Road.
“We are closing the road down right now on the westbound lane moving through South Airport,” road commission manager Dan Watkins said in a Facebook update on the commission’s page.
Shortly after 2 p.m. the county’s Department of Public Works was notified of “a potential sanitary sewer main overflow near the intersection of South Airport and Park Drive.”
The county’s DPW director Noah Karberg and other staff responded with a road commission crew, accompanied by Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department, the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s emergency management team.
“An active sewer main overflow was observed on South Airport Road moving westbound into the Boardman River,” Karberg’s statement reads.
Following the response, the DPW updated drivers and residents of their opngoing assessment. According to Karberg, workers took “immediate action” to manage and divert the flow from the collection system, which carries 200,000 gallons of untreated sewage daily.
“EGLE, Grand Traverse Environmental Health, and other relevant agencies have been notified,” the announcement states.
Pedestrians and drivers are asked to avoid the area as crews continue to assess the damage to the roadway.
The closure is the second time South Airport has been affected by water-related damage in the last four months. Watkins provided residents with regular updates via social media following destructive floodwaters that submerged the road in April.