A logjam that has closed the footbridge over the Cedar River to Riverview Park for more than a week will be removed Thursday morning.

The City of Renton signed a $20,000 contract Wednesday with Rhine Demolition to do the work.

The company will use an excavator with an 85-foot boom equipped with a rotating pincher that will pick up the large logs, said Todd Black with the city’s Community Services Department.

The smaller debris will be allowed to float downriver.

The logs pulled from the river will be transported to the Renton Municipal Airport for use in a mitigation project, he said.

The excavator will set up on the State Route 169 side of the footbridge early Thursday morning. The work should start at about 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. and take three to four hours.

“It’s tight, but they can do it,” said Black of the working area next to the river.

The logjam built up against the bridge following the major rainstorm Jan. 15-16 that caused the river to rise to a Phase 4 flood level, the highest. The river’s level has slowly dropped since then.