Last updated: August 26, 2024 @ 10:55 AM
If you use boats, kayaks or canoes on the Cedar River in Austin, be aware that the river is closed until fall 2024. Crews will be demolishing the eastbound bridge and removing the center pier. Once the removal work is done, it will continue to be dangerous to be on the water at this site, because construction crews will be building the new pier and abutments near or in the river channel.
During the I-90 bridge replacements, that section of the Cedar River State Water Trail will be off limits to paddlers and boaters who go through that part either from the upstream side or downstream where the city has a boat ramp on Austin Mill Pond.
For people using the new canoe/kayak access below Ramsey Dam (3 river miles upstream from I-90), a small, rock access is available on Wolf Creek in Austin's Wildwood Park to get off the river. Paddlers need to turn upstream at the V-shaped confluence just north of I-90 and paddle upstream about 100 yards. Road access is on 17th Ave. NE, about 200 feet east of the landing.
Established in 2011 as a state water trail, the Cedar River begins north of Austin, Minnesota and flows to southeast Iowa, where it joins the Iowa River and becomes a major tributary of the Mississippi River.
This river has only one segment. Get maps and more information.