Officials with the Owensboro Riverport Authority have awarded the bid to construct a low-water dock at the facility. Riverport President Brian Wright said Hartz Contracting of Owensboro has been awarded the bid. Wright said Hartz bid $1.660 million. The Riverport received four bids for the project. With the low-water dock, the Riverport will have two docks that can function simultaneously. At times of high water, the high-water dock will be…

Owensboro probably wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for the Ohio River. Legend has it that Bill Smeathers came to what was then called Yellow Banks in the late 1790s and opened a tavern about where the VFW post is today. He is said to have traded with passing keelboats. The railroads didn’t reach Owensboro until 1871, when the Owensboro & Russellville made its first run — to Livia, 14…

In September 1966, the Owensboro City Commission created the Owensboro Riverport Authority in hopes of developing a commercial port that would lead to economic development. It was the first city to create such an authority under legislation that had just passed the legislature a few months earlier. But it would be another decade before the riverport actually opened. In 1972, Owensboro Mayor Waitman Taylor was pushing for the development of…

The Owensboro Riverport Authority board voted Wednesday to allow Owensboro Community & Technical College to use 1.76 vacant acres there as a training area for students seeking their commercial drivers license. Mike Rodgers, chief institutional officer at OCTC, said the nation needs 90,000 more truck drivers this year and the need will grow to more than 100,000 in the next two years. So, OCTC will launch its new four-week program…