Don’t let the sight of a massive ark in Kentucky alarm you – it’s not a sign of the end of the world, it’s simply the start of a new religious theme park.

Construction of a Noah’s Ark attraction in northern Kentucky is well underway, reports CTV News, representing the fist phase of a faith-based theme park that’s scheduled to open on July 7, 2016. Work on the bow and stern of the 155-metre-long wooden boat, which cost $90 million to build, will begin soon, says Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis, the Christian ministry leading the project.

“We believe that what we’re doing here in this particular life-size reconstruction will be the most authentic and realistic reconstruction of Noah’s Ark in the world,” he told media last Thursday.

Plans for the park have been precarious since the start. After the state of Kentucky granted final approval for a tourism tax incentive to the project in 2011, slow fundraising caused the builders to reapply. But in 2014, the state rejected the second application, citing growing concerns of “religious indoctrination.” The ark’s builders are suing in federal court to get back in the incentive program.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel with the election of a Republican governor in 2016. Governor-elect Matt Bevin, who supports tax rebates for the project, could drop the court defence and place the ark’s application back in the tax rebate program.