The City of Port Huron says repairs to the Black River Canal and Tainter gate will have to be put on hold until funding for the nearly $5 million project is secured. In a memo shared with media Thursday, City Manager James Freed says he was unable to secure funds from the neighboring townships of Port Huron and Fort Gratiot, and is now turning his attention to Lansing. He says when the city first started the canal repair project, costs were anticipated around $1 million. However price tag has since ballooned to $4.5 million and has been slowed down by, “Bureaucratic red tape.”
Freed says the city can’t possibly absorb this cost alone, and has asked for assistance from the state legislature. Newly elected Republican 64th District State Representative Joe Pavlov told WPHM last week that he plans to introduce a bill to secure the funding. Without it, says Freed, the project will not be able to move forward. The Tainter gate at the entrance to the canal – which connects the river to Lake Huron – failed during an ice jam in the Black River last January and has since been closed to boating traffic ever since.
