Published: April 13, 2007 08:35 am      

Boat ramps should be ready for tourism season

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is making rapid progress in getting boat-launching ramps on Lake Cumberland ready for the upcoming tourist season.

Corps-operated ramps are being extended to the 675-foot elevation because of the low level of the lake to facilitate repairs at Wolf Creek Dam. The dam has an uncontrolled seepage problem and the water is being kept at the 680-foot level to ease pressure on the earthen section of the structure.

Bernie Kearns, facility manager for the Corps, said the boat-launching ramp at Cumberland Point was put in use Tuesday and two more lanes will be opened at Waitsboro no later than next Tuesday.

Cumberland Point, located off Ky. 235, is in the eastern edge of Wayne County and is a popular recreational area for Pulaski Countians. The just-opened ramp is one lane wide.

Kearns said there is a good possibility the Waitsboro ramp will be completed Friday, opening two additional launching lanes. One lane is currently open and in use, he said.

Waitsboro Recreation Area is just west of U.S. 27 between Somerset and Burnside at the site of Somerset’s water-intake facilities.

At Omega Park in the southeastern part of Pulaski County, the Corps plans to extend the launching ramp, starting next week. Buck Creek Boat Dock, formerly located at the end of Ky. 192, moved to Omega Park on the main part of the lake to get into deeper water.

Lee’s Ford Resort Marina has a one-lane launching ramp open and in use and the Corps is extending two additional lanes. The work is expected to be completed in about two weeks, Kearns said.

The launching ramp at Fishing Creek Recreation Area, located at the end of Ky. 1248 across from Pulaski County Park, is so far from water than nothing can be done to make it usable. This popular ramp will remain closed for as long as the lake stays at its present level.

Another ramp at Conley Bottom in Wayne County will be open by the end of the week, according to Kearns. At Fall Creek, also in Wayne County, a two-lane ramp was opened Tuesday.

A contract has just been let for extension of the ramp at Beaver Creek in Wayne County. Kearns said it probably will be three weeks before this extended ramp is put into use.

Work started Wednesday morning on the launching ramp at Alligator Dock No. 2 in Russell County. It will take about three weeks to do this project, Kearns said.

Alligator Dock No. 1 in Russell County is planning a move to a different part of the lake at Jabez, but Kearns said the relocation has not begun.

Anyway, the Corps plans to build a two-lane launching ramp at the existing location of Alligator No. 1 “ ... because the people in that community need the facility,” remarked Kearns. He said the new ramp will be a joint venture of the Corps and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and possibly the Transportation Cabinet.

Boaters have been using an extended two-lane ramp at Grider Hill in Clinton County for about two weeks. “We got that one done before the recent rise in the lake level,” said Kearns. He was referring to heavy rains in the Cumberland River Basin a month ago that pushed the level of the lake up several feet.

Two extended lanes at Jamestown Marina in Russell County are expected to be put in use by the middle of next week, Kearns said.

A $3 launching fee is still being collected at Corps-operated facilities, according to Craig Shoe, resource manager for Lake Cumber-land.