Grand Traverse County repairs flood damage at Boardman River bridges

Watercraft were barred from a stretch of the Boardman River in Grand Traverse County as crews worked on flood damage at the Beitner and Brown bridges, keeping part of the corridor closed and reshaping access for paddlers, nearby residents and emergency responders.

The county and Grand Traverse Conservation District said river access between Brown Bridge Landing and Cass Road Jack’s Landing was closed May 27, with paddlers directed to use Forks Campground and Scheck’s Place Landing instead. The district said the trip from Forks to Brown Bridge Landing should take about four hours, but it also warned that cleared stretches could still hide new obstructions and that life-threatening conditions remained.

The work is part of the county’s broader recovery from mid-April flooding that pushed the Boardman River at Beitner Road to 7.8 feet on April 14, the level tied to the Beitner Bridge collapse. Grand Traverse County declared a local state of emergency the same day as high water threatened more damage across the county. The flooding left Brown Bridge Road standing but damaged its culverts, and repair work there began Thursday after the flood.

At Beitner, the county road commission approved a $100,000 contract to remove failed concrete culvert structures at the collapse site. A bid for the Beitner Bridge structure removal was posted May 15 and closed May 19, and road commission officials said the culverts were being pulled out in preparation for a new bridge.

The Boardman corridor has become one of the clearest signs of how far Grand Traverse County still has to go before the spring flood is fully behind it. The road commission estimates about $9.3 million will be needed to repair damaged road systems countywide, while another estimate put total flood damage at more than $21 million. County officials have been working with state and federal agencies on recovery and FEMA-related funding as they assess damaged sites across the county.

For now, the Boardman remains a working recovery zone as much as a river. Brown Bridge Road, Beitner Road and the surrounding launches are still being shaped by culvert failures, bridge removals and changing shoreline conditions, underscoring how a single flood event continues to affect travel, recreation and county infrastructure planning long after the water dropped.