Public support for the McAlpine project is important to the Corps, beyond its need for annual appropriations. The new visitors center is expected to accommodate a significant increase in attendance, beyond the 50,000 annual visitors today. But the displays will focus only on the historic Portland Ship Canal and McAlpine Locks, so as not to detract from the nearby Portland Museum and the Falls of the Ohio State Park, Zimmerman emphasized. A similar trail is being planned on the Indiana side from the Falls eastward through Jeffersontown. Consequently, the Corps believes it will actually improve the clarity of the Ohio, once the construction is completed, by permitting a more constant flow of the current and the subsequent dissipation of silt and debris.
Safety is always an issue.
Except for the collision between a barge and the locks in 1994 there have been no major incidents in the Louisville area. The Coast Guard, which monitors commercial traffic through its Louisville area Marine Safety Office, does not believe there has been a fatality involving a commercial barge in more than a decade. A near miss occurred this fall when a University of Louisville practice racing shell collided with a barge and was destroyed. The were no injuries, and the Coast Guard found the U of L crew at fault. Dwayne Adkins of the Coast Guard said, stressing that a fully-loaded barge, even toiling upriver at 10 knots or less, can require more than a mile to come to a dead stop.