Harrisburg is installing additional signage to warn boaters of the dangers of the Dock Street Dam, the city announced today.
City spokeswoman Joyce Davis said that two warning signs have already been installed along the lower river walk on the east bank of the Susquehanna River. One is located about 200 feet upriver from the dam, and the other about 100 feet downriver.
The signs are intended to warn boaters of the dangers of the nearby low-head dam, which has led to numerous accidents, including fatalities, over the years.
Another sign has been installed on the walking path leading down from the parking area under the I-83 bridge, where a boat launch is located. Moreover, the city plans to install two more signs on the west bank of the river once waters recede enough to do the work, Davis said.
The announcement comes on the same day that 26-year-old Cody Binkley of Palmyra was arraigned on numerous felony and misdemeanor counts in the deaths of his girlfriend and daughter.
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said that Binkley, travelling upriver from Middletown, deliberately and recklessly steered a small Jon boat directly into the concrete dam on the night of May 7, capsizing the craft and leading to the two drowning deaths.
Already, there are numerous reflective signs in the river warning boaters of their proximity to the dangerous dam. The new signs, though, are along the riverbanks.
It’s estimated that some two-dozen people have died in accidents at the 3,800-foot-long, four-foot-high dam since its construction a century ago.