OSWEGO, NY – Mayor Billy Barlow announced today the grand opening of the William S. Cahill, Jr Pier in the City of Oswego. The $10 million construction project transforms an old abandoned coal trestle into a new, modern, waterfront park, allowing for public access from land, boating access from Lake Ontario, and additional fishing opportunities for visitors and residents. The pier also features a walking path down the middle, a boardwalk style path around the perimeter, and a decorative fountain towards the end. In addition, the city installed two more fire pit seating areas, unique statues, and electrical services to allow large boats and yachts to dock along the pier.
“The new William S. Cahill Pier is Oswego’s latest waterfront project that enhances our waterfront area and will serve as a significant asset, drawing folks from all over Central New York, to come experience Oswego’s second-to-none waterfront,” Mayor Billy Barlow said. “The over $20 million of investment along our waterfront since 2016, including the new pier, has helped transform Oswego and without the help of the State of New York, this transformation would not have been possible. I believe the dozen waterfront improvement projects and initiatives we have implemented these last eight years will allow Oswego to be a real destination, while serving the residents of this community, for many, many years to come.”
In 2019, the City of Oswego secured $12.6 million from the New York Start Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI) in response to the high water and flooding along Lake Ontario. $3.5 million of the funding was allocated to raise and improve Wright’s Landing Marina. $9.1 million was allocated to transform the former International Pier, now re-named the William S. Cahill Pier, from a vacant parcel of land to a public park.
Last year, the city completed $6 million worth of work to restabilize the pier by installing sheet-piling around the perimeter to prevent erosion. With the recent completion of surface work, the Pier is now fully opened.
The William S. Cahill Pier has been named in dedication of former Oswego Mayor William Cahill who served from 1980 to 1988 and spearheaded the last round of waterfront improvements in Oswego including the original development of Wright’s Landing Marina and the bulk of the West Linear Riverwalk project. Cahill was also a commercial fisherman on Lake Ontario and owned a fish-fry restaurant in downtown Oswego for years.
Attending the grand opening ceremony were members of the Cahill family including his son, Billy, who said, “on behalf of the Cahill family, I want to thank Mayor Barlow and the Common Council for this tremendous honor. My dad spent his youth on this pier and his adult life on the waters that surround it. This administration has continued his vision of waterfront development and I know he would be humbled and proud to see his name on this beautiful pier for generations to come.”
The city also received an allocation from an emergency FEMA declaration to pay for the balance of the project cost. Other partners in the project include architecture work by Delta Engineers and construction work by WD Malone.
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