The public is invited to attend a dedication ceremony for a new handicap accessible fishing deck that has been constructed at Blevins Road Access Area on the Watauga River in Carter County.

The ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at Blevins Road Access Area located on the Watauga River near 312 Blevins Road, Elizabethton. Representatives from TWRA, TVA and Trout Unlimited will be speaking.

In 2018, TVA and the Overmountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited approached TWRA to evaluate the possibility of constructing a handicap accessible fishing deck at TWRA’s Blevins Road Access along the Watauga River in Carter County. Over several months, design ideas and site locations were discussed and TVA and Trout Unlimited provided funding enabling the project to move forward. TWRA’s Engineering Division designed the project in late 2018 and began working on construction permitting. By September 2019, construction was initiated and continued into mid-October when the project was completed.

The Watauga River is one of the state’s most popular trout fisheries and the completion of this project provided the first ADA accessible feature for this popular fishing destination. The partnerships developed as a result of this project illustrate how agencies and NGOs work together to provide public opportunities and increase angler enjoyment of fishing locations that are typically inaccessible to mobility impaired individuals.