The municipality is celebrating the completion of a major shoreline project along the Thames River in Chatham.
Staff and politicians from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent held a ribbon-cutting along Thames Street on Monday to commemorate the multi-million-dollar Thames River Slope Stabilization project.
Dave Taylor, Chatham-Kent’s deputy CAO, said the project represents an important investment in the safety and future of downtown Chatham.
“Over time there has been erosion here and aging infrastructure that’s created concerns about the stability of the riverbank, and through this project’s significant investment we’ve replaced an aging retaining wall, strengthened the riverbank, improved stormwater infrastructure, and created a great, new accessible pathway for residents and visitors,” said Taylor.
The project included the installation of a high steel sheet pile retaining wall and quarried rock along the north shore of the Thames River, between the Third Street and Fifth Street bridges, to help protect the shoreline from erosion.
Mark McFadden, the municipality’s manager of engineering, said the new additions to the riverbank will help to protect Chatham’s downtown from future erosion and flooding.
“It’s really just to protect the slope. The water levels can still get as high as they have in the past,” he said. “The wall was constructed slightly higher to protect from some lower-level storms, but the slope is designed to protect [the riverbank].”
While construction along the shoreline has been completed, the municipality intends to erect a new sign and commission a new mural near the area. Further details about those additions have yet to be released.
