Free the Kentucky River

In July 2008, I wrote about the importance of keeping Frankfort waterfront development open to the water, ensuring that people have walk-up-and-float-away access to the Kentucky River at multiple points.

But if it's not going to be a river anymore, what's the point?

Andy Meade at the Herald has great piece on how the water controllers are turning the Kentucky River into a series of stagnant ponds.

It used to be that you could put a boat anywhere in the Kentucky River and go anywhere in the world.

These days, it's a river to nowhere.

The locks upriver from Frankfort no longer work, so boats can't get past the dams that segment the river into a series of pools.

Operation of the locks between Frankfort and the Ohio River has become increasingly sporadic.

Last month, the Kentucky River Authority — concerned about protecting water supply and worried that someone could be hurt if a lock gate broke while a boat was inside — gave its blessing to putting barriers across the lock at Frankfort and the three between the city and the Ohio.

Read the whole thing.