Lake Erie Winds: Lake Erie Ferry Service Closer to Reality

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lake Erie Ferry Service Closer to Reality

Proposed Lake Erie ferry route

After years of rumors and informal discussions, plans for a Lake Erie ferry service between Cleveland and Port Stanley have taken a big step toward becoming reality. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and Central Elgin, the governing authority over Port Stanley, have teamed up to work toward pilot ferry service between the two ports. The two cities received two formal proposal packages by the Aug. 15 deadline for submissions, one from an American ferry operator and one from a Canadian firm.

Back in February local officials in Central Elgin had first agreed to begin formal discussions with the Port Authority regarding the launch of a ferry service between the two ports. Once the Central Elgin Municipal Council passed a resolution supporting further discussions with Cleveland port officials, talks between the two accelerated.

Port Authority CEO Will Friedman had reopened discussions with Canadian officials about the ferry service last fall. The service had been contemplated for years, but did not materialize, in part because the Canadian government had not completed a long-awaited transfer of the waterfront property to local control. Once the transfer took place, formal discussions got underway.

Officials from Central Elgin will be invited to Cleveland in the next several weeks to review the submissions, agree on ways to assess them and discuss next steps.

(Sources for this story: The London Free Press and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority)

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About Lake Erie

9,940 sq mi (25,745 sq km), 241 mi (388 km) long and from 30 to 57 mi (48-92 km) wide, bordered on the N by S Ont., Canada, on the E by W N.Y., on the S by NW Pa. and N Ohio, and on the W by SE Mich. and NW Ohio.; fourth largest of the Great Lakes. It is 572 ft (174 m) above sea level with a maximum depth of 210 ft (64 m), making it the shallowest of the Great Lakes and the only one with a floor above sea level. It is part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system and is linked to Lake Huron by the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, and St. Clair River, and with Lake Ontario by the Niagara River (Lake Erie's only natural outlet) and the Welland Canal. The New York State Canal System links the lake with the Hudson River. Several small rivers, including the Maumee, Sandusky, and Cuyahoga, flow into the lake from the south; the Grand River enters from Ontario. Lake Erie is partially icebound in winter and is usually closed to navigation from mid-December to the end of March. Rich agricultural lands border the Canadian shore, where the chief towns are Port Colborne and Port Stanley. The principal U.S. cities on the lake are Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, and Toledo; all are ports with heavy industry. Untreated industrial and municipal wastes from lakeshore cities-and from Detroit, whose wastes enter the western end of the lake-polluted the waters and rendered surrounding areas foul smelling. A U.S.-Canadian pact (1972) ended the discharge of contaminating materials into the water, and the environmental damage has since abated. Numerous recreation facilities are provided at national (Point Pelee and Fort Malden in Canada), provincial, and state parks located on the lake's islands and shores. The first European to see the lake was French explorer Louis Jolliet in 1669. The British and the French, and later the British and the Americans, fought for its control. The battle of Lake Erie (Sept. 10, 1813), a naval engagement in the War of 1812, led successfully by the U.S. leader Oliver H. Perry against the British, was fought at Put-in Bay. (Courtesy the Columbia Encyclopedia)

News and views, and history and humor, about the lake I love.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lake Erie Ferry Service Closer to Reality

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