Flood effects are lessened in Atchison, as River Road fully reopens.

That’s according to a Sunday night social medial post on the Atchison County Road and Bridge Department Facebook account.

According to the post, River Road is now open from the City of Atchison to the Doniphan County line.

The road was fully closed due to Missouri River flooding on March 18.

Another traffic route also reopened over the weekend, albeit in a limited capacity.

According to a social media post made by Atchison County Emergency Management, the Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge is again open, but to local traffic only.

The route that’s reopened, on U.S. Highway 59, from Atchison into Buchanan County, Missouri, is just to the east of Atchison. The remainder of the highway, a half-mile east of the bridge, remains under flood water.

Local leaders cite the economic impact of the closing, with Atchison Mayor Shawn Rizza last week telling MSC News, We’re losing a lot of business from the Missouri side where people, instead of coming over the bridge to us, are now going to St. Joe, going to Kansas City. It’s going to take work at the federal level for that to really be fixed.”

During a visit to Atchison last week to observe flood effects, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said the issue will be addressed. "This is an opportunity for us to see if we can encourage Missouri, as they rebuild 59, to do it in a way that it doesn’t flood in the future.”

It’s expected that it will take months before the major travel route will be able to reopen due to damage from the flood waters.