The Fourth Street Bridge over the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo is expected to be closed for the next two weeks, while repairs are made to the inflatable dam below.

According to Main Street Waterloo, city officials closed the bridge and covered pedestrian crossing at 7 AM Tuesday. They also closed the Cedar Valley Lakes Trail between Fourth Street and Park Avenue.

The closed areas are all expected to re-open around Jan. 17, but the date is dependent on the weather and the amount of work needed to repair the broken bladder dam.

The bladder dam is designed to raise the water level by four feet upstream to allow for more boating and river recreational activities. City officials can lower the dam when river levels are high. Individual sections can also be lowered to clean out debris or log jams.

City officials discovered the dam was leaking air near the east bank last spring when they attempted to inflate bladder and couldn't. They've hired a contractor to fix the leak and access the river bottom downstream from the dam in an effort to prevent future issues from developing.

According to a news release, the dam will be raised and lowered multiple times while the work is being done to insure that all repairs are made and hold.

 

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