OTUMWA, IOWA -- As one bridge reopens, another prepares to close.

The Market Street Bridge reopened Wednesday morning after being closed a week due to high water.

The city needed the water to lower enough to inspect the bridge for damage to ensure its stability.

“What we did, we got underneath in a boat, looked at the rollers, the plates, the rockers just to see if they had moved,” said Director of Ottumwa Public Works Larry Seals. Anytime you get a water load against the girders you need to get under and do a visual inspection.”

Now, it is the Jefferson Street Viaduct creating concern for the City of Bridges.

A main concern is deterioration one of the concrete support beams on the south side of the river.

On Monday, the Ottumwa City Council approved $150,000 for construction on the viaduct.

“We have one project set up where we are going to do a cap repair on the south river bank. If you look underneath you can see where the actual rocker plates set that the concrete is deteriorating,” Seals said.

The project, which will close the bridge for two months, will also entail fixing some of the steel and surface patching on some of the other piers.

Seals said they have looked at the project since 2007. He added the deterioration is caused from old age and weather, not flooding.

The city has not yet recieved bids on the project.