A big yellow loader with tractor-size tires gently lowered Anoka's newest attraction into the Rum River on Wednesday.
It's a 28-foot dock above the City Hall waterfalls that will improve water-rescue response time while attracting more boaters to downtown, city officials say.
"We are a city on two rivers, and we are capitalizing on our assets," said Mark Anderson, public works superintendent. His crew assembled the aluminum-frame dock, which juts out from the graded bank, with a 4-foot section extending upstream.
Anderson said that Mississippi River boaters have been able to cruise up the Rum River and stop at the City Hall docks below the waterfalls. Now boaters upstream from the falls in Anoka, Ramsey and Andover will be able to dock and walk a few blocks to downtown businesses, he said.
Fire Chief Charles Thompson can see the dock and crushed-gravel ramp from his office about a block away in the Public Safety Center, which houses rescue craft. He said it will take about five minutes to launch a boat at the new ramp for upstream rescues, compared with 10 minutes at the nearest upstream ramp, at the county fairgrounds.
"Time is of the essence in any emergency. You have to get people out of the water, especially in cold weather," Thompson said. "It is definitely a plus for us."
Materials were covered by $2,200 in donations from vendor fees at last month's Riverfest and fees from the event's bass fishing tournament.
The dock will be dubbed Freeburg Landing, after Freeburg Fuel, the business that used to sit in what will be a riverfront park running several blocks north of City Hall along 2nd Avenue, Anderson said. He said an engineer has been picked to design the park space, which surrounds the dock.
