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Surplus military steel will solidify Island Lake boat launch

Island Lake officials will try to shore up the crumbling gravel boat launch at Eastway Park by installing military-surplus steel on the watery slope.

The pierced steel planks are interlocking metal strips with holes punched through them. They can be connected to form boat ramps, runways or temporary roads.

They're being eyed for the Eastway Park boat launch, which is on the lake's east side off Eastway Drive, to solve an erosion problem.

The water lapping on the ramp damages the gravel, Trustee Mark Beeson said. Usage degrades the ramp, too.

"You end up getting a divot," Beeson said.

The village's lake management committee, an advisory group, came up with the idea to install the steel ramps on the launch.

They'll come from an Oklahoma company called Calumet Industries that specializes in selling the mats.

The strips were used extensively during World War II to build runways and other needed surfaces on rough terrain. They even served as runways at Tempelhof Airport during the 1948 Berlin airlift.

They're often called Marsden mats, after the North Carolina town adjacent to the Camp Mackall airfield, where the material was first manufactured and used.

The strips coming to Island Lake were manufactured during World War II, said Ken Wick, who leads the village's lake committee. They're resilient and made with magnesium to prevent rust, even if submerged.

"They're really neat," Wick said.

The village board authorized the purchase Thursday night.

The equipment will cost between $3,500 and $4,500, Wick said. It will be installed in spring 2015 by the village's public works crews.

Because the steel mats aren't permanently fixed to a surface, they can be removed if officials want to make changes to the boat launch or the nearby parking lot, Beeson said.

"It's very flexible," he said.

Most of the steel mats will be underwater, out of public view, Beeson said.

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