Smoother sailing might be on the way for boaters and fisherman launching at LeTourneau Landing.

Warren County Road Department staffers and the county’s engineering firm are taking a look at what can be done with the badly deteriorating surface at the public ramp, showing its disrepair during low Mississippi River stages.

&#8220I think the river is low enough now that we can go and see what needs to be done,” Road Department Manager Richard Winans said.

The landing that angles down from a gravel parking lot is used by recreational and commercial boat owners to back trailers into the water for launching and retrieving boats.

It and the landing at City Front provide public access to area rivers.

The LeTourneau site has been repaired a few times in the past, but rising and falling river levels continue to buckle the asphalt and break off chunks.

&#8220It’s really when the river rises after a low like this that much of the damage is done,” County Engineer John McKee said.

The Mississippi is usually low in the summer, reaching sometimes record lows in August.

In 2000, the launch was spruced up, thanks to $50,000 left over in a grant from the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

No money to pay for another round of renovation has been identified, but with the lower level, McKee said, it will at least be easier to see what needs to be done.

&#8220We will come up with a plan to shore it up,” he said.