Lakewood Harbor Reopens | Video

Joel Porter | 7/9/2012

After waiting for more than a year, residents of Lakewood Harbor in Mandan once again have river access. Over the weekend, contractors dug out half of the channel that was plugged with sand and silt, allowing boats and jet skis to pass through.

The harbor, along with three other bays in Mandan, were plugged last spring to prevent flood water from threatening neighborhoods along the river.

The Lakewood Homeowners Association hired a contractor to dig out about 21,000 cubic feet of sand that accumulated behind the clay plug.

"Make a good pass yesterday. We got one channel or part of the channel open to the river and they`ll work now to complete the full channel," said Lakewood Homeowners Association President Daryl Splichal.

Splichal says workers expect to have the remaining channel dug out by the end of the week.

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