Ramp in Riegelsville Closing

[Wilson]

The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife is advising Delaware River anglers that the boat ramp at Riegelsville is scheduled to close on Monday, July 1, and remain closed until October 1 for reconstruction. Access to the ramp may be affected by construction equipment and/or materials beginning this Friday, June 28, until the closure on Monday. :

[Flukemeister1]

That is GREAT news Wilson. I live right across the river from the ramp and I have been launching boats there since I was a little guy with my dad. That ramp has been a mess all my life. It has that wierd dog leg and has always been subject to washing out on the sides. I hope they correct all the problems that have been there for way too long.

[FASTEDDIE29]

819,000 bucks!!!!! It better be one hell of a ramp!!! Maybe they should take 100,000 of that money and put a Hot Dog stand a the ramp!!!

[flatcreek]

I'll bet they screw it up. They don't need to spend that kind of money. A little excavating and some blacktop or a few yards of concrete and they'd be good for another 20 years. Like Eddie said probably a hot dog stand and kiddie rides. It's country now, I hope they don't change that.

[DRiverRat]

I wouldn't mind turning back the clock on this one...... it was one hell of a place to fish under private ownership :(

[flatcreek]

Heard a nasty rumor that they are going to charge to launch after the rebuild. I hope this isn't true but it sounds like something government would do. What came first the highways or the suburbs?

[FASTEDDIE29]

Once the ramp is done in October. The state will start charging 10 bucks to launch at Reigelsville from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Some kind of launch permit or something. Do I get a free hot dog or an Ice cold beer with that?????

[Wilson]

$10 bux to launch, and how much does the guy collecting the money make?
Seems like a wash in the revenue department for the state.

[Mark B.]

Heard a nasty rumor that they are going to charge to launch after the rebuild. I hope this isn't true but it sounds like something government would do. What came first the highways or the suburbs?


That nasty rumor is false.

It is a NJDF&W ramp. Like RVR, Assunpink, etc. your charge for its use comes from your hunting & fishing license fees.

Those without such licenses whom want access, such as hikers, bird watchers, non-fishing kayakers, etc. are supposed to get an annual boat ramp maintenance @ $15.

[Lard Almighty]

819,000 bucks!!!!! It better be one hell of a ramp!!! Maybe they should take 100,000 of that money and put a Hot Dog stand a the ramp!!!That does seem like a lot. Where did you get that number from?

As a point of comparison, I recently worked on a remediation project which included the removal of a gasoline UST system, the removal of about 4,000 tons of contaminated soil, and backfilling with certified clean fill. The entire project, including all waste disposal, subcontractor, and laboratory fees, cost less than $300,000.

Even if the entire launch ramp area is regraded and finished with concrete, $819,000 seems very high. Like, order of magnitude high.

[basspilot]

Well if its a union job it might take a while, but that still seems pretty steep.

[flatcreek]

I'm glad to here the rumor is false at least to some extent, thanks for the info Mark. Apparently there will be a fee for some and F&W is going to spend $819,000.00 of our license dollar to upgrade the ramp. The requirements will require enforcement (a paycheck) more expense. (Whenever you make rules or laws, you empower some and take freedoms and privilege away from others.) If you were to put $5,000.00 of maintenance in that ramp every year (which I don't think it had in the last 10 years) you could take care of it for the next 160 years with $819,000.00. The interest on that money would more than take care of it. The ramp was really much better before the Bridge commission worked on it when rebuilding the bridge. ( another government agency). Not to get down on Pa people, but a lot of them use the ramp and the river is reciprocal as for licenses, so would they be able to use the ramp. If we really want to improve access to the river talk pa into getting rid of that stupid canal. there always working on it and it never has water in it. It's like paving and plowing snow on a road no one uses.
In these troubled times I think the government should use a little common sense.

[FASTEDDIE29]

There's some info at NJ.com and McGraw Hill is the company that's doing the project. Might be able to find some info on there site.

[acabtp]

eh, stuff costs money. to me, a million bucks for a large boat ramp, docking facilities and parking along a major river wouldn't seem any more unreasonable than any other public construction project. i am sure that they are forced to do all sorts of modeling and testing to certify that the design that they are using doesn't negatively affect the watershed, that they aren't releasing too much silt into the river during construction, that the bulldozers hurt the shads feelings, etc. all that those engineers and tests will be the bulk of the cost; construction is probably only a 1/4 or 1/3 of the total.

[flatcreek]

eh, stuff costs money. to me, a million bucks for a large boat ramp, docking facilities and parking along a major river wouldn't seem any more unreasonable than any other public construction project. i am sure that they are forced to do all sorts of modeling and testing to certify that the design that they are using doesn't negatively affect the watershed, that they aren't releasing too much silt into the river during construction, that the bulldozers hurt the shads feelings, etc. all that those engineers and tests will be the bulk of the cost; construction is probably only a 1/4 or 1/3 of the total.
The key words there are " any more unreasonable than any other public construction project." meaning maybe all or most are unreasonable. This just happens to be a place I'm very familiar with as I live only a short distance from it and use it often. A million bucks here and a million bucks there just keeps making government bigger, more costly and digs New Jersey a deeper hole to climb out of. I'm sure the government employees, officials and contractors involved in the project think it's great, they benefit from it as they have some of you thinking you will to. As for me living a 1/4 mile from the launch and using it often as many others do. I don't see the benefit. Boats go in, boat come out, people get along and have a good time, I've never seen parking be a problem and if someone gets stuck some one will help, it's country leave it alone.

[acabtp]

The key words there are " any more unreasonable than any other public construction project." meaning maybe all or most are unreasonable.
no argument there. if it were a private enterprise, they would certainly get the work done for less (if at all). but if it were a private enterprise, it wouldn't be free or included as part of fishing license fees, and people would certainly not like that... so we get a $819,000 public boat ramp that the locals don't want. business as usual, your tax dollars at work.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Welcome to Riegelsville State park. Can't wait to see how many guys snap there props on the rocks. Whatever, keep country in NJ. That's what I'm about, we don't have much left. Embrace the country and support NJ farms while we still have them!!!

[Jetdrive]

Sounding just a bit selfish here, fellas. Must be the me, me, me, mine mentality the masses have developed lately. :D

i highly doubt the ramp will turn into Central Park.