Ebeneezer access being repaired

JORDAN LAKE -- Remember all that rain in February?

The high water coupled with heavy winds turned the rickety courtesy docks at Ebeneezer boat ramp into rubbish.

Jordan's level peaked at 227.53 feet above sea level on Feb. 7. That's more than 11 feet above what's considered the normal level of the reservoir in the Cape Fear River system.

With Ebeneezer being one of four ramps on the lake that are open 24 hours a day, there probably will be more congestion at the other ramps this spring.

That was what Wake County resident Jim Frei, a recreational boater, was worried about. He was told by a State Parks employee that it might not be replaced this summer.

"This is unacceptable," Frei wrote in a March 17 e-mail, noting the rip-rap around that particular ramp. "Without courtesy docks, it is impossible to load passengers onto the boat without getting wet or running the boat upon the shore."

"You don't want to be forced to come off the water on a beautiful evening," Frei said of having to use a ramp that isn't open around the clock.

But the good news is that work, which should last about two weeks, is scheduled to start in less than six weeks, according to Erik Christofferson, who heads the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's engineering department.

N.C. State Parks spokesman Charlie Peek said the damage at Ebeneezer left the division scrambling.

"You're not sure how long it's going to take," he said. "We've pulled all this together in the last couple of weeks."

State Parks will reimburse the Wildlife Resources Commission for the work at Ebeneezer, which is estimated to cost about $70,000.

What's more, State Parks is hoping to have all of its docks at Jordan Lake replaced. The agency manages 10 of the 12 ramps on the lake. (The Wildlife Resources Commission manages Farrington Point, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages Poe's Ridge.)

Now it looks like the docks at Poplar Point, Vista Point and Seaforth could be replaced by the Wildlife Resources Commission this season. And replacing the docks at New Hope and adding docks to White Oak and Parker's Creek are in the works.

Though it's an entirely different state agency, the commission was contacted for help because it produces its own boat docks and saves money using prison labor.

"It allows us to build them for about half of what it would cost us to hire a contractor," Christofferson said of the 8-foot dock sections, which are assembled at the Dan River Prison Work Farm in Yanceyville.

"It allows our [employees] to do a whole lot more work," Christofferson said.

The commission's dock design also is favored by boaters. The docks at Ebeneezer were believed to be around 15 years old, and, with large metal rings that kept the platforms connected to pilings, they were notorious for damaging boats.

Russell Harrelson, a member of the Fuquay Bass Club, put a hole in his fiberglass bass boat on the docks a number of years ago.

"It was an expensive lesson learned," he said.

The new docks are hinged at a concrete bulkhead, instead of being connected to pilings, and they easily rise and fall with fluctuating water levels, leaving them less susceptible to damage by high water and wind.