CLEWISTON, Fla. — A big change is taking shape along the Herbert Hoover Dike in Clewiston.
Fox 4’s Hendry County Community Correspondent, Austin Schargorodski, stopped by to learn more about the project after seeing construction crews clearing the area. Crews told him it’s all to make way for something new on the water.
Watch to see what the removal of the old bridge will add to Clewiston:
An excavator dredged the bottom of the canal as crews worked to remove the old dike access bridge now that a new one is already in place.
“We actually demolished that because in the future this is going to be a navigable canal,” said Aaron Thum, president of the contracting company doing the work.
Thum says removing the bridge opens the canal outside the dike to Lake Okeechobee, making way for boat access to new homes planned upstream.
Last year, Schargorodski reported on two neighborhoods proposed for the land north and south of Highway 27, which the city says could bring five to six hundred homes to Clewiston. The city says the northern site will feature waterfront homes, a hotel, and a marina connected to this canal.
But with all that coming, Thum says the waterway needed an upgrade.
“Now we’re lining the whole canal bank with rip rap and all of the things needed to make sure it’s a nice finished reinforced canal bank that’ll last for 100 years,” he said.
Schargorodski also previously reported on the Lake Okeechobee Waterfront Master Plan, which will add a food truck area, amphitheater, gazebos, and new boat ramps just west of the new access bridge. Removing the old bridge helps clear the way for that project as well.
The South Florida Water Management District is overseeing the work.
A spokesperson tells Fox 4 the project also improves safety for manatees, since the old culverts blocked their movement through the canal.
“There’s nothing to obstruct them here,” said Thum.
Thum says he hopes to have the entire project wrapped up in about a month.
