COLUMBUS, OH -- Phase two of a $2.9 million construction project to improve navigation through the Iron Channel at Portage Lakes State Park in Summit County will temporarily close the channel to recreational boat traffic beginning November 1, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
In the meantime, the annual draw down of lake water levels, allowing property owners to make shoreline and dock repairs, will begin October 21.
The 720-foot Iron Channel connects the east and west reservoirs at the park and is a major thoroughfare for recreational boaters on those waterways. The two-year project to widen and straighten the channel and replace its deteriorated sheet pile walls, is scheduled for completion by Memorial Day 2003.
"We are confident that boaters on the Portage Lakes will be very pleased with the long-term benefits of this project," said Dan West, Ohio State Parks chief. "We remain committed to completing the work in a way that is acceptable both to boaters and to homeowners in the area."
Phase one of the Iron Channel project, completed last May, replaced about 60 percent of the waterway's sheet pile walls. However, unexpected construction problems forced ODNR engineers to devise a new method of installing the remaining 40 percent, most of which lies at the channel's western end.
Great Lakes Construction Company of Hinkley will use new installation technology to complete the remaining 280 feet of channel wall. That technology involves stabilizing subsurface soils in the area prior to the start of sheet wall replacement. The new technology promises to minimize any adverse effects to houses and other buildings located on the channel.
ODNR has spent about $1.5 million on the Iron Channel project thus far, and expects to spend another $1.4 million before the job is done. ODNR assures area residents that aesthetic standards of the project remain high and any new design will complement the portion of the channel already finished.
For Further Information Contact:
Jane Beathard, ODNR Media Relations
(614) 265-6860
-or-
Brian Andrews, Portage Lakes State Park
(330)644-2220