Public safety upgrades at the ARISE Town Square can’t come soon enough for a Janesville woman whose son fell in the Rock River while playing with a friend on the pier July 7th.
Since the boy’s fall from the pier, city officials are working to install new safety devices that will be close at hand if anyone at the town square ends up in the river.
Deputy City Manager Ryan McCue says the city plans to place a “throwable” emergency flotation device at a station near the floating pier, which is intended as an access point for kayakers and canoeists.
He said the city also is considering installing a floating “safety rope” that could be attached to moorings at the Court Street bridge just downstream from the town square.
McCue said the rope would span partway across the river and serve as a lifeline if a person got swept downstream in the current.
He said city officials must discuss the floating safety rope idea with the state Department of Natural Resources to determine whether state law allows it.
