WACO, Texas — The City of Waco has big plans for downtown revitalization — they want to create a riverwalk for you, your neighbors, and the city’s guests.
- The city says the Riverwalk will become a key piece in tying people from downtown, to the McLane Stadium, to the Foster Pavilion, and to local businesses downtown.
- The improved Riverwalk is meant to avoid flooding and be safer for pedestrians.
- The construction budget for the project is 25 million dollars, one of the largest investments the city has made on the river corridor.
- Construction will begin in the coming months when the river levels fall, the City has hopes for the Riverwalk to be complete in about 2 years.
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“Good urban development tries to marry those two, bring your river edge and your street life together so they are one continuous ribbon of activity,” Tom Balk said.
Riverfront development — the ideas started flowing back in 2010, but now almost 15 years later, Waco is started to see the construction stages of a the city’s Riverwalk.
“We’ve also added a lot of the modern amenities, seating, lighting, shade canopies, things like that and also taken opportunities to really highlight the local culture,” Balk said.
Balk, Director of Strategic Initiatives, says the Riverwalk will become a key piece in tying people from downtown, to the McLane Stadium, to the Foster Pavilion, and to local businesses downtown, like Billy Bob’s Burgers.
“I think that once all that clears up in two years, it would be a great place to be right here in the center of everything," Dustin Stanfield said.
"I’m excited for that — I think it will help us grow exponentially."
Balk says during times of heavy rainfall, the river path is underwater, but with the improvement project, they would see less flooding.
“We can confidently say we’re enabling it to stay open, almost uninterrupted unless we have a very severe flooding event, it makes it safer more enjoyable,” he said.
Billy Bob's Burgers has been located near the riverfront since 2018, and Regional Manager Dustin Stanfield says Waco’s growth has played a big part in his businesses success.
“Looking at it today, I see a big future for something that didn’t really have a whole lot going on back then, so it’s exciting,” Stanfield said.
The construction budget for the project is $25 million, one of the largest investments the city has made on the river corridor.
The City of Waco has hopes for the Riverwalk to be complete in about two years.
