Improvements to be made to Bird Creek Park in Yankeetown, beginning Feb. 10

Levy County Florida

Yankeetown, Florida - On February 10, 2025, construction crews will begin work to make improvements to Bird Creek Park in Yankeetown - Bird Creek Boat Ramp Improvements Phase II. Work is expected to continue through the last week of April 2025.

The park is located at the termination of CR 40 in Yankeetown, at 8000 Hwy. 40 West, where boats can be launched in an area where the mouth of the Withlacoochee River meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Work will include the construction of two covered 24-feet by 24-feet pavilions and two 8-feet-wide boardwalks totaling 165 feet at the Bird Creek Boat Ramp. The boardwalks will access the existing boat ramp parking lot, with concrete landings and additional revetment or rip-rap (stones to control erosion). Repairs to the walkways on the boat ramp will also occur during this time. The construction will not impact boaters using the boat ramp; the boat ramp will remain open.

Bird Creek Boast Ramp Refurbishing, Phase I, 2020:

The Bird Creek Boat Ramp was reopened on August 29, 2020 after being closed since April 20, 2020 for refurbishing.

Around 2017, work began to obtain permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Plans were designed to mitigate damage to mangroves and saltmarsh grasses.

The 34 feet-wide boat ramp was built by Dewberry Engineering, with $650,000 in funding appropriated by the Florida Legislature, and approximately $130,000 from Levy County impact fees. The new ramp has no center wall, as did the original one, and is wide enough that two boats can be launched at the same time, There are two boat docks, long and wide enough to protect boats from the swift current of the Withlacoochee River flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, adjacent to the boat ramp.

The resurfaced parking lots can accommodate 48 boats and trailers (includes 3 handicapped spaces) and 9 spaces for vehicles without trailers (includes 3 handicapped spaces).