CHEROKEE, Iowa (KTIV) - Leaders in Cherokee County cut the ribbon Tuesday on the reconstruction of one of the bridges leading into and out of the city of Cherokee.

It was a project accelerated by the flood of June 2024.

The Highway 3 bridge reconstruction was part of discussions that started in 2019 after flooding in 2018 and subsequent years.

“It truly was a 1,000-year flood, and that bridge that was there took such a beating it was no longer safe,” said Craig Schmidt, mayor of Cherokee.

The Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency coordinator said, In 2024, heavy rain from the north washed downstream, closing five bridges in Cherokee and limiting the ways drivers can get in and out of town.

Scott Marler, director of Iowa DOT, said officials advanced the project a year sooner in

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