Funding is currently being negotiated to keep the long-running Cave-in-Rock Ferry operational for the next two years, but disagreements between the state and ferry operators are putting this year’s talks on the rocks. If a deal is not met before the current contract’s June 30 expiration date, the ferry serving parts of far western Kentucky and southern Illinois would shut down – leaving some community members high and dry.
For decades the transportation service has shuttled travellers and their vehicles between Marion, Kentucky and Cave-in-Rock, Illinois on the Ohio River. During this time, the ferry has been completely funded by both states, allowing for passengers to cross the river for free
In the time that its been operating, Crittenden County Judge-Executive Perry Newcom said the ferry has become a vital part of everyday life for residents in the surrounding areas.
“The importance really is wide-ranging for the entire region of southern Illinois and western Kentucky, simply because of the vast amount of traffic that crosses that ferry in a year's time. It averages about 140,000 vehicles a year,” Newcom said. “[The traffic is] everything from local business and industry that are supporting other businesses and industry on either side of the river.”
This primary contention in this year’s contract talks centers around a 47% funding increase requested by the ferry operators to accommodate rising fuel costs. According to a release from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the states were not willing to increase funds for the next two years, opting to continue on the current contract’s budget of $1.8 million per year.
Representatives for the private Cave-in-Rock Ferry operators declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations.
Todd Riley, owner and operator of Riley Tools and Machines in Marion, said he uses the ferry every day to transport workers and equipment to projects across the river. He said negotiation years are concerning times because of the uncertainty surrounding the ferry’s future.
“We don't know what's going to happen… because if [the ferry] shuts down, I have to make plans for the next morning… I got to get a hold of all my employees, I got to contact, you know, the companies that we work for… it's that uncertainty, with anything, [that] always makes you anxious,” Riley said.
Without the ferry, those travelling between Marion, Kentucky to Cave-in-Rock have to take a nearly 50-mile detour on a mix of state highways.
Riley said if the ferry were to shut down, this change in distance would almost immediately cost him business.
“It's vital to our business. The reason that we get those contracts is [because] we're 25 minutes away, and then if we have to drive around and go through Shawneetown… we’re over an hour away, so that cuts into everybody's cost, and so… we need the ferry extremely bad for just my little company,” Riley said.
Newcom said businesses like Riley’s and daily commuters will be the ones most affected if the ferry ceased operations, which would in turn have drastic impacts on the area’s economy.
“Citizens who are mostly coming from southern Illinois into Crittenden County or other areas of western Kentucky [come over] to buy goods, services, products that they need for their homes and their livelihood… seeing doctors [and] coming to the hospitals on the Kentucky side of the river,” Newcom said. “We've got some businesses here locally in Marion that equate about 35% of their annual business on trade from southern Illinois, so it's a heavily influenced impact on Kentucky especially.”
In the future, both Newcom and Riley expressed a want for change in the frequency of negotiations – a point which Newcom said he hears regularly brought up by both locals and officials.
“There's a lot of discussion about how we can better position this process where we aren't going through what we go through every two years and get to the 11th hour on the last day before you hopefully find some type of an agreement, because it just it puts a lot of stress on a lot of people,” Newcom said.
