River Improvements Bring Rowing Facility

By Alex Cameron, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma River is slowly refilling with water after some minor repairs and improvements. The major improvements are next.

The MAPS river project, combined with the construction of the Chesapeake Boathouse, has given Oklahoma City a very nice, nationally known rowing venue.

But the changes that are getting ready to happen could very well take us to an entirely different level.

Three new boathouses, all designed by renowned Oklahoma City architect Rand Elliott, could, officials say, help transform the Oklahoma River into a world-class rowing venue.

"Once we build these facilities, once we make the improvements to the shoreline, we're gonna be farther down the road of being literally one of the premier urban aquatic venues in the world," said Mike Knopp of the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation. 

For the moment, the only aquatic activity on the river is taking place upriver in the Western Avenue basin as the Eastern Avenue basin was drained at the start of the year so engineers could replace a portion of the stacked stone wall, repair several seals in the Eastern Avenue dam, and begin improvements to the boathouse shoreline.

"We just completed the installation of a 48-inch storm sewer drain," said John Rhodes of the Oklahoma City Public Works Department.

The city started refilling the basin last Wednesday, gaining almost a foot a day.

"And if we continue at that rate, I'm guessing by the end of the week, we should be pretty close to having a full impoundment," Rhodes said.

Construction of the new boathouses can't begin in earnest until these transmission lines can be moved out of the way, but officials don't see that being a major hindrance and expect to break ground on the Devon Boathouse this spring.

"We really hope to have the Devon Boathouse complete by the October 2010 Regatta, and that would be a great way to celebrate the opening," Knopp said.

The Devon Boathouse, which will be OCU Rowing's new home, will also be home to US Rowing's new High Performance Training Center, where Olympic rowing hopefuls will come to train.

Boathouse Foundation officials say they expect work on the new OU boathouse to get started this summer. They're not sure yet when construction of UCO's boathouse will begin.