The Associated Press

CLARKSVILLE, Ind. - A $6.5 million plaza honoring Lewis and Clark's trek across the nation's then-unchartered western reaches won't be finished in time for the 200th anniversary of the start of their journey.

Organizers with the Falls of the Ohio Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee have so far secured only about a third of the money for the plaza overlooking the Ohio River in Clarksville.

The funding woes mean the plaza won't be done in time for next fall's commemoration of the start of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's 1803-06 journey through the West.

The pair set out by boat on the Ohio River from Clarksville.

"We're at a point now that even if all the money were raised tomorrow, it'd be very difficult to finish anything," said Matt Pierce, chairman of Indiana's Lewis and Clark bicentennial commission. "We may very well be having a groundbreaking instead of a ribbon-cutting."

Aside from the stalled plaza, work also has yet to get under way on two other sites expected to be part of the celebration - an Ohio River Greenway trail linking Jeffersonville, Clarksville and New Albany, and a bridge over Mill Creek, where Lewis and Clark began their journey.

Greenway officials expect the trail to be done by next October. But a wet spring or spate of bad weather could throw off the timetable, said Rick Dickman, executive director of the greenway's development commission.

And Clarksville still hasn't bought all the needed land.

Still, organizers say the lack of construction won't hinder the dozens of events planned in Louisville, Ky., and Clarksville next October.

The bicentennial celebration will take place Oct. 14-26, 2003, and is expected to draw tourists from across the nation to 12 "signature" sites across the nation.

The Clarksville plaza will include an amphitheater and statues depicting events leading up the expedition's departure from the Falls of the Ohio.