Progress

March 18, 2009

W-B banking on river life

River Common to make Susquehanna accessible again

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – On June 19 – almost 37 years after Wyoming Valley watched the rising Susquehanna River in fear – Jim Brozena’s dream will come true, and there will be celebrating at the river’s banks.

Brozena, executive director of the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority, said Tuesday that everything is on schedule for the opening on that day of the River Common – the $20 million project that will make the Susquehanna accessible to the public for the first time since the protective levees were constructed in the 1930s.

“It’s obviously been a long road,” Brozena said. “This is something that was never contemplated when we started raising the levees in 1996.”

Brozena said he is proud to be a part of the project that will help revitalize the area.

“I can’t wait to see the looks on people’s faces when they see the jewel that has been created there,” Brozena said. “I guess there may be a bit of irony in celebrating just a few days before the water rushed over and through the dikes in 1972.”

Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban, chairman of the Flood Protection Authority, is looking forward to a summer by the river.

“This is what it’s all about,” Urban said. “It allows people access to the river again. This project will revitalize the downtown and the region.”

Brozena said details of the grand opening celebration are still being worked out, but it will run in concert with the annual Riverfest event, which features kayaking, music and art.

“This park will bring people to Wilkes-Barre, and once they are there, they will go to the downtown to help spur business,” Urban said.

The River Common project runs from the Luzerne County Courthouse to Wilkes University’s Dorothy Dickson Darte Center for the Performing Arts on River Street. It will feature walkways, a 750-person amphitheater, a garden on the courthouse lawn, two 60-foot-wide portals allowing access to the river and a fishing pier.

Nearly 500 shrubs, 12,000 perennials and 50,000 pieces of ground cover will also be planted in the project area. The landscaping budget, including design, is about $600,000, Brozena said.

The project also includes numerous walkways and seating areas and two levee portal openings that allow street-level access to the river. The $20 million Riverfront Project is part of the more than $200 million levee-improvement project, Brozena said.

Brozena said finishing touches include stainless steel on the portal walls, sandstone to match the county courthouse, concrete pavers and bluestone and granite steps. He said lighting and security cameras also will be installed.

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.

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