M/V Evanick and the Henry M Shreve heading upriver 5/11/24

 

M/V Sally LaPeyre

 

Big money for riverfront development in Ohio

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine came to my neck of the woods -- Lawrence County, specifically the park at old Lock and Dam 27 -- today to announce a series of grants for 21 projects in 12 Appalachian counties to expand access to waterways, revitalize historic riverfront downtowns and create new tourism and recreational opportunities.

We knew he was coming to make some sort of announcement about the Lock and Dam 27 property, but not many of us expected something that big.

You can read the official news release here. The full list of projects is here. It's a pretty big list. Before I get to the projects in Lawrence County, three stand out to me. There's $34.2 million in Portsmouth for riverfront murals, an amphitheater, a fishing pier and campsites, along with a better connecting the riverfront to downtown.

Then there's Racine, Ohio, an incorporated community of about 683 people, which will receive a little over $10 million to upgrade its riverfront park. From what I've seen, Racine already has a nice riverfront park, so it will be interesting to get a look at plans for these changes.

And Gallipolis is getting $9 million, part of which is for building a dock to accommodate larger boats. By that I assume it means the town wants to get some of the passenger boats that cruise by to stop in town so people can spend a little money.

As for Lock and Dam 27, which is one of my favorite places along the river to photograph the river, sunrises, sunsets, people fishing, boats, weather, wildlife and about anything else that's there, the plan is to spend $5.2 million to repair the 1,400-foot lock wall that''s more than 100 years old and install a 100-boat marina with a boathouse.

These projects were chosen because they are close to being shovel-ready, Plans have been drawn up, and the state expects them to be pretty far along if not open for business in two years or less.

I will have more thoughts later. This is a lot to process. For sure the riverfronts of a lot of communnities in Ohio are going to look at lot different in a couple of years. Because of term limits, that will be DeWine's last year in the governor's office, and between this and other Appalachian initiatives he has launched this year, I expect him to have a pretty active farewell tour in 2016.

Catlettsburg, May 3, 2024 (3 of 3)

 Last batch of photos from Friday afternoon and evening.

Catlettsburg, May 3, 2024 (2 of 3)

 More photos from Catlettsburg this past Friday afternoon and evening:

Catlettsburg, May 3, 2024 (1 of 3)

 I went down to Catlettsburg Friday evening after work. I thought I would get a few pictures. I came back with a few dozen. I want to post as many as I can, but my usual meticulous method of processing photos wouldn't work with that many.

So here we are with more than 40 photos spread over three separate entries. I kept each to less than 60 seconds of editing, so most of what you see is straight out of the camera. I did some correcting to compensate for a photo that was not level or if haze was a problem. I cropped a few, mainly of people or to get rid of too much water or sky.

So here they are, spread over several blog entries.

My thanks go to the guy between the sticks of the Debi Sharp for allowing me to get some good photos of his boat face-on. I've already posted two of his boat to my Instagran account, and more probably are coming as I edit them.

I got a lot more pictures Saturday evening at Athalia, Ohio. Even rapid-fire downloading and editing, it may be a few days before I post those.

Something happening at Lock and Dam 27

Today Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he will be at the park at old Lock and Dam 27 near Proctorville, Ohio, at 12:30 p.m. Monday to make an announcement. As a Rome Township trustee says, the governor of Ohio only comes to Lawrence County to see disaster damage or to give out money. There's no disaster at the old dam now, so he must have some money the township trustees have asked for to make the park there more user-friendly and attractive for visitors. I plan to be there to see what's up.