ORANGE BEACH – Baldwin County's boat launch on the Intracoastal Waterway, built at a cost of more than $10 million, will provide needed public access to coastal waters for residents and visitors, state and local officials said.

The Launch at ICW was dedicated Friday, Oct. 28, after the ceremony was postponed twice due to construction problems and weather delays. Gov. Kay Ivey said she was pleased to celebrate the completion of the project.

"This is an exciting day, not only for Baldwin County, but also for the state of Alabama," Ivey said. "It opens up avenues and access to visitors as well as citizens to come and enjoy the outdoor recreation we have to offer and I'm so proud to be a part of this. It's well worth the wait and now it's a done deal."

The 47-acre site on the north bank of the waterway east of the Baldwin County Bridge Company toll bridge includes 1,700 feet of water frontage, six boat launches, a large parking lot as well as walking trails, bridges and fishing piers, Ivey said.

"Truly, this is going to be a valuable asset to our coast, and I believe that an asset to our coast is an asset to the entire state," Ivey said.

She said funds from the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, known as GOMESA, paid $10 million of the cost of the project. The GOMESA program uses money generated by offshore oil and gas drilling for projects in states allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Baldwin County Commission Chairman Jeb Ball said commissioners and county officials have been working for several years to find a new location for a boat launch to meet the growing demand for access to local waterways.

"The boat launch is going to handle a lot of the congestion off our other already compacted boat launches that we have," Ball said. "People are loving using this."

Ball said the project was a good investment by the county and state.

"We had a lot of effort go into this and I think this is one of the best investments we've made with GOMESA funds in a very long time," Ball said. "It's going to be beneficial to everybody in this community, our travelers and visitors."

Chris Blakenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said expanding public access to Alabama waterways is one way the state can improve its economy and attract and retain workers.

"Alabama is truly blessed with woods and waters from one end of the state to the other," Blakenship said. "With the spectacular and islands to the various waterways to the largest artificial reef program on Earth the great inshore and offshore fishing, demand for boating and public access in through the roof down here. Public access is a priority for me as the commissioner. Boat ramps, public hunting land, other recreation land, fishing piers, trails and blue way creation are all in progress all around the state."

Blakenship said he began meeting with county commissioners, including Charles "Skip" Gruber and Chris Elliot, who is now a state senator, about seven years ago when the project was first proposed.

Gruber said local officials searched for a suitable site for the launch before finding property on the waterway.

"Boating is very important for Baldwin County," Gruber said. "Just about everybody owns a boat if you live in Baldwin County and they love going out on the Gulf or in our bays. We have so many miles and miles of shoreline in this county and acres and acres of water, and they all enjoy it and that's what our visitors come to us for."

Elliot said the launch will be a major benefit for people around the state.

"We get to share all of that with the rest of the state," Elliot said. "We get to share that with the kids from Demopolis and Auburn and Tuscaloosa, from Madison County and Blount County. When they come down here, they get to get out on the water easily and there's room for them."

Orange Beach City Councilman Jerry Johnson said access for boaters was an issue two years ago, when Hurricane Sally approached the area. At the time, the area did not have enough boat ramps to allow some boat owners to get their vessels out of the water where they could be moved to safety.

"Over the past two years, our city has experienced shortages in labor, availability, building materials as far as trying to recovery from Hurricane Sally and the hailstorm that was a few months later," Johnson said. "Our city quickly realized we were short of adequate public boat launches since we only had two. We had a lot of boats that were caught with Hurricane Sally that could not get off the island. So, the launch at ICW is a perfect fit to fill our needs."