EAST LIVERPOOL Improvements to wharf to make boaters happy

A waterfront facility will get spruced up.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST LIVERPOOL -- The city plans to expand a boat launching and mooring facility next year for recreational boaters who ply Ohio River waters.
The city has obtained a state grant that will be applied to a nearly $379,400 project intended to improve the municipally owned Broadway Wharf.
The undertaking will entail adding a second boat-launching ramp at the facility. Three 30-foot-long floating docks also will be installed, explained Bill Cowan, city planner.
Right now, the city has one 30-foot dock that's reserved for boaters putting in and taking out their craft.
Boaters will be permitted to tie up at the new docks for a longer period although the amount of time that will be allowed has yet to be set.
Here's why: The city's intent is to have a place where boaters can moor and have time to picnic at the wharf's pavilion or tour the city's downtown, which is about a 10-minute walk away, Cowan explained.
The new docks will be attached to a 133-foot-long metal wall that will be constructed about 12 feet from the river bank.
Using back fill, the bank will be expanded into the river to meet the new wall, Cowan continued. A sidewalk will be installed atop the wall.
The second launching ramp is aimed at reducing the time it takes to put in or take out a boat on busy summer weekends, when long lines can form, Cowan said.
"The number of boats that use our facility is amazing," Cowan said. No actual numbers have been collected, but Cowan estimated that nearly 100 boats might put in at Broadway Wharf during a summer Saturday.
Other details: The project also calls for paving an adjacent parking lot.
All the boating facilities at Broadway Wharf, originally constructed in the early 1980s, will remain free.
To make the project possible, the city landed an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant that will pay for 75 percent of the project's cost. The remainder, about $95,000, will be paid by the city.
Early this month, the city hired DLZ Inc. of Steubenville to do the engineering work the project requires.
Construction is expected to begin in the fall after the primary boating season.
The expanded facility will be finished by next spring, Cowan said.
leigh@vindy.com