New rule limits speed for motorized boats in downtown Fort Wayne rivers
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - In an effort to keep kayakers safe on Fort Wayne’s rivers, city leaders have implemented a new rule for motorized boats in highly-traveled areas downtown.
80 to 90 percent of the vessels on Fort Wayne’s three rivers are man-powered, like canoes and kayaks, according to Riparian Management Supervisor Dan Wire.
Wire says there will be a new rule in play this year for motorized boats and jet skis in certain areas of the rivers, where boat tours and party cruises often pass through. He says the new rule was designed to help keep everyone safe while on the water.
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With approval from Indiana DNR, Wire says the Main Street Bridge to the Tennessee Bridge to the Columbia Avenue Bridge will be idle zones.
“So what that means is that we welcome power boaters, we absolutely do. But it is idle speeds only in here, and then they’ll begin to understand, ‘oh look at the curves, oh look at all those canoes and kayakers out here’. So we’re making sure the rivers are accessible and available to everybody,” Wire says.
He says he wants to stress that this speed limit only applies to the downtown area between the above-mentioned bridges.
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