ASHLAND — Around 200 feet of Town Run’s banks will receive giant boulders, also referred to as riprap, to prevent from further erosion.

Ashland City Council awarded Bartley and Bolin a $32,480 contract on Tuesday that allows the company to install the riprap from the city’s pedestrian bridge to the Claremont Avenue bridge that was recently repaired.

The $1.6 million project to reconstruct the century-old Claremont Avenue bridge wrapped up in October.

“Now that the bridge project is complete, it’s time to install the rest of the riprap,” Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said.

Riprap had already been placed west of the pedestrian bridge.

The action is part of a larger work the city has dubbed the Center Run Creek Erosion Control Project, or the Center Run Trail Project. It involves the renovation of Corner Park on the west and the demolition of some homes on the east, along Cleveland Avenue, Main and Miller streets at Bicentennial Park next to Dairy Queen.

The city began planning for the Center Run Trail Project in earnest in 2019. Demolitions of homes on the east side of the project, along Cleveland Avenue, Main and Miller streets, started in 2020.

The city also recently demolished structures along Main Street where a sink hole developed after heavy rainfall in May 2021. The mayor has said that space will someday become green space and that Town Run, which flows underneath, will receive a new culvert to fix flooding issues there.