CShores boat ramp ready for Highland Lakes boaters

By Emily Hilley-Sierzchula

Perfect boating weather marked the opening of Cottonwood Shores’ public boat ramp, giving Highland Lakes boaters another place to launch their vessels along Lake Marble Falls.

City leadership held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on a sunny Tuesday, Jan. 27, to celebrate the opening of the boat ramp.

The boat ramp project cost more than $189,000, $142,127 of federal funds, plus a 25 percent contribution from the city ($47,390).

The boat ramp was part of a Texas Parks & Wildlife grant the city obtained 2 years ago, said Mayor Donald Orr. The boat ramp project went on the backburner for more than a year while the city finished up other park projects, he said. “This is the last of our park grant; the other projects had to be finished by last summer, and this one has to be finished by the end of the month,” Orr said.

Contractor M&C Fonseca Construction Co., in Granite Shoals, has been working hard on the project for the last 8 months, Orr said.

Matias Fonseca, lead contractor, said his crew has “hit it hard the last 3 months.” Weather caused some project delays during the 8 month span.

Placing boulders near the swimming area to prevent parking there is the last remaining chore. Fonseca had his crew, along with a trailer of boulders and a machine, ready to finish up.

Orr said large boats can launch off the ramp because it is in an area of Lake Marble Falls that is about 10 feet deep, but surrounding areas can be tricky to navigate because of rocks in the waterway that are just a foot underwater. 

“People from here have a good idea of where they can and can’t go,” he said, adding that it would not be a good place to ski.

TPWD was the administrator of the grant that used money paid by recreational boaters through federal gasoline taxes.

The Cottonwood Shores Boat Ramp is located at 3729 Lakeview Drive.