For 7 years, this sunken crane barge has been in the Providence River. Now, it will become art.

PROVIDENCE – The half-submerged barge that's blighted the Providence River since 2017 will finally be removed – and turned into public art.

A $1.5 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will cover the cost of extracting the 114-foot crane-topped barge from the spot where it sunk in a fall nor'easter, Rhode Island's congressional delegation announced on Thursday.

Pieces of the steel-hulled barge will then be transformed into "community-informed art" and amenities that will be installed at the waterfront access point at the end of Public Street through a partnership between the Department of Environmental Management and The Steel Yard .

“Finally getting that sunken crane out of the water will be a big deal," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, whose office announced the grant funding, said in a statement. "I am looking forward to seeing what The Steel Yard and some talented Rhode Island students can do to turn the eyesore into public artwork befitting its location across the highway from the iconic Big Blue Bug ."

The grant funding comes from NOAA's Marine Debris Program, according to the release.

Why wasn't the barge removed earlier?

After the 150-ton MG Marine Barge sunk in a 2017 storm, its owner, Mark Ginalski, refused to remove it. He died in 2020, leaving the state to clean up his mess.

The barge wasn't found to be an immediate environmental hazard, and isn't obstructing shipping traffic. However, local elected officials suggested that leaving it in place would be yet another example of South Providence serving as a dumping ground.

As The Providence Journal previously reported, the barge's large size makes it extremely unwieldy to remove. One option would be to drop a heavy steel beam on it and break it into smaller pieces – but the Coastal Resources Management Council frowned on that, saying that it could disturb the riverbed and release pollutants into the water.

Other possibilities include using a massive crane to lift the barge out of the water, or having divers cut it up with blowtorches. But for many years, no funding was available.

"The derelict vessel, its crane tilting out of the water at a 45-degree angle, has been there so long now it's become a part of the South Providence scenery, like Rhode Island Hospital and the Big Blue Bug ," The Journal observed last year.

More: RI may be the smallest state, but we have the world's largest Big Blue Bug

Barge will have unexpected afterlife

DEM and The Steel Yard, a Providence-based art center specializing in welding and blacksmithing, will work with community groups and high school students to find creative new uses for salvaged materials from the barge, according to the press release from Whitehouse's office.

"The crane's removal is long overdue, and I'm excited to see what our state's talented artists and students create to turn this blight into beauty,”Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement.

The abandoned barge sunk just off industrial Public Street, one of the only waterfront rights of way in South Providence . The access point was blocked off for years, but in 2021, the CRMC officially designated it as a public right-of-way – and since then, there's been talk of reimagining it as a community park.

One day, instead of looking out at the half-submerged barge, visitors could find themself sitting at a bench or a picnic table crafted from its remains.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: For 7 years, this sunken crane barge has been in the Providence River. Now, it will become art.