MUSCATINE, Iowa – Muscatine’s Riverside Park will reopen to traffic sometime Friday afternoon (Oct. 26), according to Richard Klimes, City of Muscatine director of the Parks & Recreation Department.
Department of Public Works crews were busy in the parking area and along Harbor Drive (Dick O’Brien Parkway) the last two days using end loaders to remove debris deposited by the floodwaters and operating the street sweeper to clean Harbor Drive and the parking areas in preparation of the reopening. The Muscatine Fire Department has also been involved in washing down the parking and street areas.
Parks & Recreation personnel have also been busy cleaning buildings, walkways, and trails of mud and other debris from the October 2018 flood that crested on Oct. 13 at 20.7 feet which is almost five feet above flood stage.
Crews have been working on Pearl City Station the last several days as the floodwaters receded and were able to get into the Riverview Center today. Klimes noted that power was scheduled to be turned back on this afternoon to the buildings and to the boat dock.
Access to the new boat ramp in the upriver end of the park will be also be available starting Friday.
The cleanup will continue next week and drivers are reminded to use caution as that work proceeds.
Debris deposited by the Mississippi River lies across the trail and parking area on October 16 as the flood waters begin to receded.
Riverside Parking lot cleared of debris and ready for a wash down on October 25.
Fall colors, debris, and flood waters inside Riverside Park.