Chicago River boat traffic increases amid safety concerns

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Tour boats, electric boats, jet skis, motor boats, cabin cruisers and a lot of kayakers - all sandwiched into the 170-foot-wide Chicago River.

"In the last two years, it has exploded on the Chicago River," said Michael Borgstrom, president of Wendella Boats.

An explosion of traffic on the river is why Borgstrom formed the Chicago Harbor Safety Committee; he says the goal of the committee is to figure out how to use this federal waterway together before it's too late.

"The biggest concern is the risk of a marine casualty increases everyday with all these inexperienced users on the waterway," Borgstrom said.

Borgstrom says while there are volumes of rules and regulations for commercial vessels, there are none for recreational boaters who rent from companies on the river. Wendella Boats Captain Alex Navarro says he has had many close calls with boaters who are reckless.

"There have been instances where they'll try to cut you off at the bow and you have to go to a dead stop - slow down as fast as possible so you're not going to slam into them because they're not paying attention," Navarro said.

Chicago Electric Boat Company is one of many new boat rental businesses to open during the past three years. While you do not have to be an experienced boater to captain one of these boats, company President Ron Silvia says his boats go slow and are easy to drive.

"If you give people information as to what they are going to encounter when renting a boat and driving it, they're better equipped to handle what comes before them when they're out on water," Silvia said.

But Borgstrom says, at some point, the river may max out and right now there is no one controlling the growing river traffic.

"There isn't one cohesive process for doing anything on waterway, so right now anything goes," Borgstrom said.

There is also confusion on who regulates the river because it is a federal waterway. The City of Chicago says it's the U.S. Coast Guard, yet the U.S. Coast Guard has told boat companies that it's the state and city that have control.