Vermillion officials are holding a ceremony Wednesday to celebrate a milestone in a significant rehabilitation project in the city's nearly 200-year-old harbor. Construction on the harbor’s west pier will wrap up this week, clearing the way to focus on completing improvements to the east pier.
The piers facilitate boat traffic into the Vermillion River from Lake Erie which generates $6.9 million every year for the local economy, supporting marinas, restaurants and other businesses at the lakefront, according to Vermillion Mayor Jim Forthofer.
“We enjoy a great deal of summer business from that activity, and that facilitates our local businesses and brings a lot of cash into the city,” Forthofer said.
Projects on both piers began 2021. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project, worked with Vermillion to ensure construction didn’t impede the harbor’s regular operations, Forthofer said.
The total price tag on the federally funded repair project is $23 million, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Avery Schneider, deputy chief of public affairs for the Buffalo District of the Army Corps of Engineers, said constant exposure to Lake Erie weather had weakened the piers’ structure.
“Over the decades, the wind, waves and ice buildup start to destabilize that structure,” Schneider said, “that could mean stones going into the navigation channel, which can be a danger to boats that are trying to travel up.”
The piers act to create a calmer, safer section of water for boats to use when sailing into the harbor, Schneider said, especially during times of bad weather.
With the west pier completed, Schneider expected the repairs on the east pier to be finished this October. The repairs, he said, would last for the next 50 years.