TRAVERSE CITY - The first segment of the US-31/M-72 rebuilding project in Traverse City opened Friday, letting commuters travel to downtown Traverse City smoothly. We are just shy of the original opening date of July 2024, and businesses are excited to get back to seeing more customers.
Owner and chef of Traverse Bay Café Josh Casady said, “Hopefully we’ll just be right back on track, you know, where, you know, summer is upon us. So we’re looking forward to seeing a lot more customers coming back in here.”
Since the road has been closed since March, businesses like The Blue Goat have had to get creative on how to bring customers in.
General manager of The Blue Goat Coty Mendenhall explained, “The first couple months, we were able to rally through with a lot of creative planning…some of the extra services that we offered included, we call them care package deliveries. So, we always offer delivery, and we always do gift baskets and, kind of go above and beyond.”
She also said, “We brought in grab and go sandwiches from grape Bay bread. We brought in local flowers. from front porch floral. So, anything that we could think of, to bring more people and we, we were on it.”
Now because of the improvements, commuters are ready to get back on Front Street just in time for the busy season and the upcoming National Cherry Festival.
A driver we talked to, Kyle Bigford, said, “I’ve frankly just avoided being in Traverse City due to it being closed. So it’s great that it’s open. Everything’s flowing smooth, and we’re getting where we need to be a lot faster than normal.”
A local from Northport, Lynn Baker, also shared her excitement, saying, “Well, it’s the only way to get from where I live, in Northport to the other side of town. ... So, it’s much more convenient to go this way and all the way through town.”
After the National Cherry Festival, the second segment of construction will begin on the western side of Front Street to Division Street with traffic closed on both sides.
