Posted on June 14, 2016
By David E. Malloy, herald-dispatch.com
The city of Ironton has received approval from the Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start an $830,000 riverfront improvement along the Ohio River, said Mayor Katrina Keith.
The project is expected to start later this month, Keith said. Ironton City Council authorized Allard Construction Co. to do the work, which includes installing a seawall and a boat dock for vessels heading up and down the Ohio River.
“We’ll bring more attention to the riverfront,” Keith said. “It’s an under-utilized asset.”
Rich Blankenship, a city council member and former mayor, worked on the riverfront project for several years before he was able to secure a federal grant to cover the bulk of the cost.
The project will take about one construction season to build the 33-slip marina that can hold boats up to 26 feet long, Blankenship said. It’s a transient dock for boats heading up and down the river.
He was able to secure a $636,000 boating infrastructure grant. The city’s share of the cost – some $208,000 – was put up by the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation and the Lawrence County Port Authority, Blankenship said.
“We applied for it twice,” Blankenship said. “It was a nationwide grant. It was very competitive. We were only one of 16 communities to get funded that year.”
The project includes a seawall and sidewalk along the 450-foot marina, Blankenship said.
Part of the riverfront will be blocked off during construction, he said.
Source: herald-dispatch.com
