A ceremony 18 years in the making

City and state leaders gathered at the Gillett Bridge in downtown Grand Rapids Monday for a groundbreaking that looked nothing like a typical construction kickoff. Instead of shovels, the architects of the Restore the Rapids project waded into the Grand River and placed the first stones by hand.

A blessing of the river by the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians Water Protectors preceded the ceremony, according to WOODTV.

"Emotional," Matt Chapman, executive director of the WhiteWater Project, said of the experience. "We have been at this a long time, myself 11 years. There were times we never thought it was going to happen."

What the project will do

The Restore the Rapids effort carries a total price tag of $26 million, including $14.5 million for construction, according to mlive.com.

Phase 1 will remove four low-head dams from the lower reach of the Grand River, between I-196 and Fulton Street. The goal is to return the river to its natural flow and create whitewater features that the city has not seen since the dams were built.

Chapman described what the river will look like once the work is complete. Natural constructive ripples and boulder drop features will be installed just above the Pearl Street and Gillett Bridges. More random habitat-forming boulders will be placed south of Pearl Street.

"There will be whitewater all through Grand Rapids. You will be able to see and hear it," Chapman said.

Construction timeline

Dam removal begins July 1. Ah-Nab-Awen Park, the city's main downtown riverfront park, will serve as the construction staging area and will be closed to the public for the rest of the year, according to 97.9 WGRD.

The process will unfold in stages:

• In the first six weeks, contractors will build a causeway, or a series of small roads, over the river
• Excavators will be driven across the water to begin tearing out the dams
• Heavy off-road dump trucks will haul concrete debris back to shore
• Phase 1 is expected to take two construction seasons, meaning the lower reach rapids could return by late 2028

Environmental safeguards

Taplin Environmental Services of Kalamazoo is the contractor for the project. Company president Steve Taplin called the work "restoration on steroids" and said it is unique in the restoration industry, according to WOODTV.

The company outlined specific environmental protocols for working in the flowing river:

• All hydraulic fluid in construction equipment will be replaced with biodegradable fluid
• Machines will be decontaminated at 140 degrees Fahrenheit before entering the water
• The goal is to prevent any petroleum-based oils from entering the river in case of a hose rupture

"The machines have to be clean, clean. There is extensive protocol up front," Taplin said.

The longer vision

The idea of restoring the rapids dates to 2008, when city and community leaders developed Green Grand Rapids, an update to the city's master plan that included the river as a central focus, according to mlive.com.

Phase 1 addresses the lower reach. Phase 2 will tackle the upper reach of the river and the Sixth Street dam, which blocks sea lamprey migration. Plans for that second phase continue to evolve, WOODTV reported.

Tim Kelly, president and CEO of DGRI, told mlive that the rapids restoration arrives at a moment when several other major downtown projects are either complete or underway, including the Acrisure Amphitheater and Amway Stadium.

The project required years of local, state, and federal approvals before reaching Monday's ceremony. For a city named for the very feature it is now trying to bring back, the wait is finally over.

"This river is in a new benchmark," Chapman said. "Constantly evolving."

By Margaret Holloway, Grand Rapids Press Wire