CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- Crews are demolishing a floodwall opening near Main Street and Riverside Drive in Clarksville to make way for a "newly designed opening."
Town officials said demolition work started Monday. The upgrade to the floodwall has been in the works for a while. It's all part of the process to create a new Main Street and downtown district in the southern Indiana town.
The new floodwall will be expanded to provide better views of the Ohio River from Main Street. The work also includes new sidewalks, bike lanes and two lanes of traffic to Riverside Drive.
This rendering shows what a new floodwall opening, near Main Street and Riverside Drive in Clarksville, Indiana, is expected to look like once a $5.5 million project is finished. (Town of Clarksville rendering)
Officials said changes are also happening underground to utilities such as power and water. In a news release, officials said one big change includes stormwater improvements to help rainwater in the newly developed downtown area to drain into the Ohio River.
The $5 million project is expected to be done later this year or in early 2024.
The work comes almost two years after town officials celebrated the completion of the new Main Street corridor project. The work happening now to finish the connection to Riverside Drive "had to wait until the floodwall project could be completed."
Town officials said the delay was caused by "a number of factors," including a "rigorous permitting process" to get approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin the work. As part of the process, the town and the construction team had to have an emergency closing plan in the event of a flood.
Additionally, officials said another factor that played into the delay was the limited construction window crews had to work on the floodwall. The window, set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, considers "the most likely and least likely time of year for the area to experience a major flooding event along the Ohio River."
To read more about the floodwall project, click here.
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