“What are they going to fill it with? Because there’s not going to be plastic bags. So I’m wonder every day what they’re doing.”
Christina Gregory, Greenway user
ROANOKE, Va. – Christina Gregory walks the greenway most days, so it’s hard to miss the huge white bags crews are placing in the river. It’s part of the in-river kayak park. And those bags will allow workers to create one of the water features for kayakers to enjoy.
“Yeah, so they’re working on building a temporary copper dam that is going to enable them to build the in-river whitewater feature. So we’ve got some equipment coming through here as they’re working on getting those sandbags moved into the river to construct that.”
Katie Slusher, Roanoke Parks and Recreation
It’s the first work in the actual river, as crews look to complete the first phases of the In-River Kayak park. This phase is expected to be complete by the end of the year. So far, the city says the project has cost about $6 million. They are still looking for money to build two more water features.
The heavy equipment will be working in this spot through the spring.
“Sure, so we’re hoping to have a substantial portion of the first river feature completed by June and so at that point we’re going to hop over to the right bank and do a lot of the sidewalks and boulder work that’s included on that side. And then we’ll come back to finish the structure.”
Taylor McFadden, Environmental Quality Resources
The bags are not permanent. Once all those bags are in place, crews will pump the water out of the middle. They must always leave a portion of the river free-flowing. There are environmental concerns as well.
“We have a couple of endangered species in the area. That we have time of year restrictions where certain types of work can’t be done as we accommodate their breeding seasons and things like that. In terms of work in stream. We’re really concerned with making sure that we’re not creating issues in terms of erosion and sediment getting into the stream.”
Katie Slusher, Roanoke Parks and Recreation