Cleanup continues, part of riverfront may reopen Thursday

MUSCATINE, Iowa - The City of Muscatine anticipates having the Iowa Avenue entrance to Riverside Park open to the public at the end of the work day on Thursday (July 25), just in time for the Almost Friday Fest celebration to be held. However, not all of the park will be open to the public, and the opening is contingent on the progress of cleanup efforts.

Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and the Fire Department will continue to hose down the paved areas of the riverfront Thursday. The parking area downriver of the Iowa Avenue entrance is expected to be open late Thursday afternoon but areas upriver of the Iowa Avenue entrance will remain closed for now.

However, if the area between Iowa Avenue and Cedar Street can be sprayed and cleaned during the day Thursday, that area will also be opened to the public Thursday evening.

In the event that some areas cannot be hosed off Thursday, they will be closed to traffic with barricades until such time as they can be opened without the worry of dust clouds from vehicles. Work will continue to clean the riverfront on Friday with the City hoping to have the entire riverfront open to the public by Friday afternoon.

Both the upriver boat launch and the downriver boat launch will remain closed through the weekend. Public Works has indicated that they plan to have the boat ramps back in the water by Monday and have the ramps open for use later in the day. The gas dock will also be closed over the weekend but should reopen the following weekend.

As the river continues to recede, City staff will continue to monitor the riverfront and push back mud into the river when possible.