Boaters on the St. Croix River will have another spot to tie up this summer as construction is nearly complete on a 670-foot floating dock along the river in downtown Hudson.
“It is a great addition to our lakefront,” Hudson Mayor Rich O’Connor said. “It is a great addition to the enhancement of our identity as a river city.”
The new dock – O’Connor favors calling it a boardwalk, while the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources calls it a wharf – rests along Lakefront Park, between the Hudson boat ramp and the Hudson dike road.
The floating dock, or boardwalk, is believed to be the longest public dock on the St. Croix River. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials confirmed it would be longer than any public mooring dock on their side of the river.
The dock caps off years of planning for O’Connor, who identified it as one of his first priorities when entering office. Soon after he was elected mayor in 2016, he enlisted Tom Zeuli, then Hudson’s director of public works and parks, and contacted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about riverfront docking options. After getting information from the DNR, he brought the idea to downtown stakeholders.
The boardwalk was a key part of Hudson’s “Waterfront Vision Study” in 2018, which outlined several different ways the city could better utilize the riverfront.
Walking, fishing, boating
O’Connor has been enjoying the St. Croix River since 1966, he said, and the floating boardwalk allows people to walk the riverside and feel the sensation of the moving water. Many residents and visitors already enjoy walking the dike road, and he said the new structure will provide a natural extension to those leisurely walks. The boardwalk also includes bump-outs for fishing and is wheelchair accessible.
O’Connor envisions that the dock will be an asset for the downtown business community, as boaters stop in for a bite to eat at a restaurant or to restock their supplies at downtown stores.
It’s another way for people to enjoy the St. Croix River, he said.
“I just always have had such an affinity for the water. My grandparents had a place up on Forest Lake, but you can only go around the lake so many times,” O’Connor said. “One of the intriguing things about being on the river is that you don’t have to stop. I’ve always said the most difficult thing about being on the river is that you have to turn around.”
“We have the most gorgeous valley anywhere,” he said. “I just love our St. Croix Valley.”
A floating solution
Previously, the city had tie-up spots on the river wall, but as the St. Croix River rises and falls through the summer, the variance makes it untenable for boaters. Since this dock floats, rising and falling with the water level, it provides a more stable solution, O’Connor said.
The floating dock itself will cost about $1.2 million and additional funds are going toward renovation of the downtown boat launch. A grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is covering nearly $400,000 of the wharf project. The city is covering the rest, along with the boat launch improvements, with about $1.2 million from the city’s downtown tax increment financing district.
Record high temperatures this winter have provided construction crews with an earlier timeline to work on the project. Traditionally, construction on the riverfront is prohibited from March to June to allow for fish spawning season.
A city subcommittee is just beginning the rules process for what size boats will be allowed to tie up to the wharf, O’Connor said. He figures that boats between 12 and 30 feet would be best suited at the dock. The tie-up spots will be free, but the city will not allow overnight parking.
City officials are hoping for the dock to be officially open by April.
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