Riverboat Excursion Pier Construction Begins In Paducah
Construction began within the past few days on a riverboat excursion pier in Paducah, Ky., funded in part by a 2019 federal Better Utilizing Investments To Leverage Development (BUILD) grant.
Crews began mobilizing on the $10.4 million BUILD grant in November 2024 after $3.5 million in additional funding was provided by the state earlier in the year as part of House Bill 1. Substantial completion of the project is scheduled for June 2026.
While crews mobilized equipment, removed old infrastructure to prepare the site and anchored a work barge at the riverfront site earlier this summer, contractor C.J. Mahan, a subcontractor for Jim Smith Contracting, is now ready to begin the pier’s construction.
“This is a transformational project for Paducah’s riverfront,” Mayor George Bray said. “Over the next few months, the community will be able to see significant progress with the installation of the support system for the riverboat excursion pier.”
C.J. Mahan is beginning the work by driving sheet piles along the riverbank, followed by mooring and support piles. The work is being done by a pile-driving hammer on a barge. Pile driving is expected to last three months and will be noisy, the city told residents. The piles will support the pier’s elevated concrete deck sections. The pre-cast sections will arrive on barges. Work on the pier will continue through the winter and spring, depending on the weather and river levels.
The riverboat excursion pier will be more than 500 feet long and 20 feet wide and is being constructed along the riverfront just downstream of the Broadway floodwall entrance. It is designed to enhance riverboat passengers’ accessibility and experience visiting Paducah. Both American Cruise Lines and Viking feature cruise itineraries that include Paducah as a regular port of call, generally from April through October.
The pier floats, which allows it to accommodate extreme rises and falls of the river, making boarding and disembarking easier for passengers, Bray said.
In an address to the Paducah Propeller Club August 13, Cassandra Caldwell, America Cruise Line’s government affairs manager for the Mississippi River and its tributaries, said accessibility for passengers is key for the cruise line in determining future itineraries, which are often planned and sold two or three years in advance of sailing dates.
“We look at what kind of infrastructure is in place,” she said. “Are there reliable, safe docks that we can stop at and our passengers can safely get off the vessel and go into the community and go on one of our excursions?”
River cruise passengers are often an older segment of the population, she added, so it is important to keep their needs in mind, both on the vessels and in getting on and off them.
Paducah’s pier will feature seating adjacent to the riverbank and handrails on the river side. A 20-foot-wide “grand staircase” will be constructed from the pier to the floodwall opening on Water Street between Broadway and Jefferson Street, according to plans provided by the city. Large, stainless steel letters spelling out “Port of Paducah” will flank the staircase. A 10-foot-wide handicapped-accessible walkway will continue from the end of the pier to the floodwall opening on Broadway.
The BUILD project also includes concrete pathways, seat walls and paver work, intersection improvements and two new bus shelters.
Grants require the construction to be substantially completed by September 30, 2027.
