ROCKPORT LOWER LEDGE PROJECT UPDATE

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

I am not on the official committee that represents the ACC in the Lower Ledge Project, but since I was there and no other news release from the October 1 & 2 meetings has been posted I will give you this update.

Representatives from McLaughlin Whitewater Group (they designed and built the Ocoee Olympic whitewater course) were flown in to discuss the potential of the Tanner Street bridge rapid for construction of a low flow and generation flow wave structure. Cost for the visit was $2000, paid for out of the ACC's Rockport Fund which contained a $10,000 grant received from Entergy in 2007 to be applied to the project. Local affiliates of MWG also attended (McClelland Consulting Engineers, who designed Riverview Road and the parking lot at the pavilion by the boat ramp; Ecological Design Group of Little Rock), along with the AGFC.

The site near the Tanner Street bridge was viewed by the engineers at both low flow and generation flow on Thursday. Afterwards, a meeting took place in the pavilion to discuss design criteria and their priorities. A followup meeting was held Friday after the engineers toured local quarries to familiarize themselves with the types of rock available in the Malvern area. They did not feel like the free rock in the Malvern quarry by the river was suitable for surfaces people would come in contact with.

Here is a summary of what the meetings produced:

Both a low flow and generation flow wave feature were given a high priortity by the ACC. MWG said it would have to perform a hydraulic analysis to see if both were possible and to see what effects such wave features would have on the Rockport Ledge. Additional cross sections of the river bed would need to be made for the analysis. In addition, MWG agreed to analyze the hydraulic effects on the Rockport Ledge of the supports for a pedestrian bridge planned by Malvern, rock islands and bank accesses planned by Malvern, and the existing rock island that forms the rescue eddy just upstream of the boat ramp. An official proposal for a contract to do the design work is to be submitted to Malvern's Mayor Northcutt by the middle of this week. The city of Malvern is the party that will be entering into a contract to construct the wave features, upon acceptance of the design proposal.

The AGFC seemed receptive to some of the design techniques they discussed with MWG to aid fish passage, but made no pledge for additional funding from the Ouachita River Environmental Enhancement Fund ($100,000) for the project, instead suggesting several other funding sources that might be pursued.

All parties will be notified of the design proposal when it is received.

Mike Coogan, alias Captain Aleve

[Jim Krueger]

Thanks for your report Mike!
This is the first I've heard with regards to a pedestrian bridge. Are they thinking of building it just upstream of the ramp but below the ledge?

Best Regards
Jim

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

The shortest span across the river is just downstream of the boat ramp, between the ramp and the pavilion. It is just a dream at this point, but who knows when funding might be available? I saw an article in the paper about several cities in the northern part of the state suddenly receiving federal stimulus money to complete their pipeline project from Tablerock lake. The towns of Marshall and Pelsor were mentioned. It was supposed to be 20 years before they got water; now they'll have a good supply in two or three. Here's a link to the Malvern Master Plan for the river corridor. It is from 2007 and there have been some changes. The amphitheater is now planned to be on the south edge of the quarry and the quarry is to become a lake. I edited this post and added the 2008 update to the Master Plan to the link below.

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Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan