116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Some Cedar Rapids trails to be closed as city finishes derecho cleanup
May. 9, 2024 3:34 pm, Updated: May. 10, 2024 1:23 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS — Parts of the trail system near McLoud Run in northeast Cedar Rapids will be closed over the next few weeks while crews remove 2020 derecho debris from wooded areas near the urban stream.
Damaged and fallen vegetative material will be removed from 21 acres of waterways and flood plains to prevent that material from being picked up by future floods and creating a blockage.
The first phase of closures and detours already has started on trails between J Avenue and 29th Street NE. That work should take no longer than 14 days, according to Ben Worrell, the Cedar Rapids sanitary/storm sewer utilities program manager.
The second phase will involve trail closures and detours between 29th Avenue and McLoud Place NE. That phase will begin after the first phase is completed and won’t involve more than five days of closures or detours, Worrell said.
Some of the cleanup won’t involve trail closures.
The city aims to have the work done by July 15, though Worrell said he doubts it will take that long, if the weather cooperates.
The cleanup is the last one involving removal of derecho debris from Cedar Rapids waterways.
Some of the debris has been stored on sites and still needs to be removed. But otherwise, the recovery work is done, Worrell said.
“The main purpose is to get debris out of the drainage ways. That’s the main purpose of the project,” Worrell said. “A secondary benefit for this location is people will have better access down to the creek.”
As for the trail detours necessitated by the cleanup, “just follow the signage.” he said. “Sometimes people try to cut through the work zones, but the trail is closed for safety reasons so we want to ask people to follow the signs.”
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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