There will be a push-button "mister" for dehydrated hikers, a doggie water fountain and stacked-stone shelters atop the Augusta Canal's steepest hillside.
The improvements are taking shape at the canal headgates area and should be completed sometime this spring.
"Obviously, with double the normal rainfall this winter, things were held up a little," said Sandy Boner, Columbia County's rental facilities and venues manager. "But barring any other delays, we hope to finish by mid- to the end of May."
Work began last fall on more than $1 million in amenities that include expanded parking areas and a new bicycle trail that will extend from the park entrance on Evans to Locks Road along a strip of land leased by the county from Martin-Marietta, which owns the adjoining quarry property.
The trail will eventually lead down to the footbridge over the canal near Reed Creek and will separate bicycles and pedestrians from the parking lots, she said.
The work also includes three new picnic pavilions that will be available for rentals and a new stone entrance to the main park.
The pet drinking fountain and mister will be located near the pedestrian bridge.
"It's something to help you cool off when it's really hot," Boner said.
The improvements, managed by Columbia County, were financed with about $750,000 from the Special Local Option Sales Tax and $250,000 from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
A second construction phase, costing about $2.4 million, is planned using 2011-16 local option sales tax dollars. That phase will include restrooms, a concession area, a canoe livery and a bike-rental facility. Also, some of the hillside parking will be removed so the area can be restored to landscaped green space with a view of the river and canal.
I'm going to come close to sounding cynical here, but Savannah Rapids has been developed enough. It used to be a quaint place stuck on the end of Evans to Lock Rd. with the neighborhood around it. Some development helped tremendously open it up to others. The buidling is a great place for large group gatherings of all kinds.
But enough is enough. Enlarging the parking lot and creating things to draw more visitors is overcrowding the place and the canal trail. Cars bringing people from all over fly down the road past houses and bike path.
These latest improvements are a done deal, but in the future, someone needs to start realizing the effects on the park of larger and larger crowds and the neighborhood.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
Back 
