The River Run Project Update
As the funding campaign for a new phase of downtown development nears completion, Dayton officials are excited to be close to starting a new attraction in downtown Dayton.
The River Run Project Update
As the funding campaign for a new phase of downtown development nears completion, Dayton officials are excited to be close to starting a new attraction in downtown Dayton.
The River Run project is nearing the $4 million funding goal it needs to get started on the project. Kristen Wicker, Public Relations & Promotions Manager at the Downtown Dayton partnership said the figures haven’t been released yet, but as of June 1, $3.8 million had been donated from public sector partners before launching the Last Dam Summer campaign in June, seeking private donations.
Late last month, Vectren announced they’d add $75,000 to the money the citizens have raised.
The project involved the removal of the low dam near the Dayton Art Institute and the Great Miami River, replacing it with two smaller structures upstream with notches for novice and experienced boaters to navigate. It removes a hazard that made the river dangerous, Wicker said.
"It’s a dangerous flood control mechanism; low dams are no longer used anymore because they create a dangerous situation where if you get sucked underwater you can’t get out,” She said. "It also blocks boat traffic because you have to try to navigate around it. With it there, the river is almost unusable.”
Once the dam is removed, there will be a seven-mile stretch of river from roughly Eastwood Metro Park down to the University of Dayton campus. "That’s the perfect length for a river day trip,” Wicker told me of the stretch, which will take boaters through and around downtown.
The effort is part of a long-term project the city has been undertaking to revitalize downtown, the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan. The plan was developed as one of the programs for development downtown, created in conjunction with the city of Dayton and several private businesses. It was launched in 2010 as a strategic economic development plan to prop up the city’s urban core.
"Not only do we open up that stretch, but also we create a new river recreation destination,” Wicker said. "It’s the next phase of development in RiverScape.”
The focus of development efforts thus far have been getting more people to the river in the first place, she said, with the ice rink, pavilion, play fountain and other amenities. She noted those amenities have been popular downtown, and making the river itself usable is the next natural step.
"This will get people into the river,” she said. "It’s part of the strategy to reconnect the community with its river that we’ve been sort of physically and psychologically divided from since the 1913 flood and the construction of the levees.”
She noted the success of other downtown programs, such as improving the arts and adding downtown housing, have been successful and that the development will ultimately benefit the entire region.
"If you look to other successful regions in the United States, they all have real strong urban cores,” Wicker said. "People are looking to return to that core where they can live, work and play in a convenient area and be part of a diverse, active community.”
Construction on the project is expected to begin in Spring 2013 with an opening in Spring 2014.
For more information or to make a donation, go to www.downtowndayton.org.
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