KAUKAUNA — Restoration of four locks on the Fox River through Appleton is slated to get under way in February.
Details of the restoration contract of the 17-lock system between Menasha and Green Bay are expected to be finalized this month, but the work is expected to cost between $1.6 million and $2 million, said Harlan Kiesow, chief executive officer for the Fox River Navigational System Authority.
"We've developed a timetable for reconstruction of the locks in three phases with the four locks in Appleton being the first phase," Kiesow said.
Kiesow said work on the Appleton locks will begin as soon as a contract is drawn up and will start with rebuilding the lock gates, which are constructed of wood timbers and metal mechanical parts.
"The gates will be pulled in February and measurements made to get new mechanical parts machined," Kiesow said.
Later in the spring, the canal system in Appleton will be drained so concrete and masonry work can begin.
Kiesow said work on the Appleton locks will be completed in about one year.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed 14 of the 17 locks in 1986-87.
After years of negotiations the locks were turned over from federal control to the state, which subsequently leased the locks to the authority, a state-appointed group of citizens responsible for overseeing restoration and operation of the locks or making the decision to close the system.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna said he is pleased that restoration is about to get under way in Appleton.
The authority on Dec. 14 selected Oshkosh-based C.R. Meyer Construction as the design and building contractor for the first phase of restoration.
The second phase of lock system reconstruction will be in Little Chute, while the third phase will be reconstruction of the Kaukauna locks.
Timing of the second and third phases of lock reconstruction will depend on funding availability.
A local river advocacy group, Friends of the Fox, is in the midst of a campaign to privately raise $2.8 million that will trigger $2.8 million in matching state funds and an additional $5.6 million in federal funds.
"The whole restoration project is based on fund availability," said Bob Stark, Friends of the Fox president. "Currently we are at $2.1 million. We have 17 formal requests out and are expecting responses in the first quarter of 2006 from individuals and businesses."
Overall, Friends of the Fox wants to raise $6 million to speed up the timeline to restore all the locks from 12 years to four years.
