Oregon Public Broadcasting

The city of The Dalles has secured a $2 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to help fund a new marine terminal. The facility will cater to cargo and cruise ships along the Columbia River.

When city planners break ground this winter on the new pier in The Dalles, they hope to transform the river town into a major point of commerce along the Columbia River.

A local winery has already agreed to use the port to ship its product down the river to Astoria. 

The city also hopes to position itself as a tourist destination for the paddle wheelers that tour the Columbia.

Nolan Young is The Dalles City Manager. He says this is just the latest phase in a nearly decade long project to reconnect the city’s downtown to the Colombia River.

Nolan Young: “We were cut off from the river in the 1960’s when the freeway went though and for years you had to go a couple of miles to the river even though it was just a couple hundred feet away”

The city fixed that problem with the construction of the Union street undercrossing in 2003.

The new pier, says Young will also be built at that site.