HARDY RAMP GETTING A $55,000 FACE LIFT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992                   TAG: 9202220047
SECTION: BOAT SHOW                    PAGE: BS-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
HARDY RAMP GETTING A $55,000 FACE LIFT
Spring and fall, when the striped bass are feeding in the upper end of Smith Mountain Lake, it can be difficult to find parking space at the state's Hardy boat ramp.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries plans to make launching there less frustrating with a $55,000 improvement project that will double the parking spaces and provide handicapped access.
"We hope to be finished by the end of April," said Ken Turner, project manager for the game and fish department.
The Hardy construction is one of several projects that are part of the agency's public fishing-boating access development program.
Recently completed was a $100,000 project at Briery Creek Lake near Farmville. Other projects are on the lower James River and at Cape Charles on Eastern Shore.
The Hardy ramp construction will provide 58 parking spaces for vehicles with trailers; 12 spaces for vehicle only and handicapped parking for one vehicle and one vehicle with trailer, said Turner. The entire lot will be paved and marked.
"Right now, there is no parking pattern and people are parking helter-skelter all over the place," Turner said.
At times, boaters are leaving their vehicles too close to the launching pad, making it difficult for others to maneuver their vehicles and trailers. By marking the lot, the flow of traffic will be directed and the parking will be organized, he said.
Additional land for the expansion is being leased from Appalachian Power Co., Turner said.
The boat ramp's catwalk will be made handicapped accessible, he said.
The construction will take place during the early fishing season, which could pose problems for anglers and boaters eager to get their craft into the water. The Hardy ramp, south of Vinton on Virginia 634, is the nearest launching facility to the Roanoke Valley, and is the heaviest used ramp on the 20,000 acre lake.
"We are going to keep the ramp open as long as we can during the construction, but there will be a two-day period when we are paving and won't be able to let people in," said Turner.
At Briery Creek, a popular 845-acre largemouth bass-sunfish lake, the game and fish department has completed a project that includes a new access road, a 45 vehicle/trailer parking area and overflow parking for 150 vehicles.
The lake, known as Virginia's Florida bass impoundment, has returned to normal level following a drawdown for construction purposes. Seventy-five percent of the coast of the project is being financed by federal Wallop-Breaux funds.
Along the lower James River, the Watkins Landing and Dutch Gap ramps are being refurbished.
On the Eastern Shore, the Cape Charles ramp will receive much the same kind of refurbishing that will be done at Hardy, said Turner.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB