PHOTOS: Tuscaloosa Celebrates Opening of Gorgeous, Mile-Long Western Riverwalk

City leaders gathered in a breathtaking new public space on the banks of the Black Warrior River Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of Tuscaloosa's Western Riverwalk.

The $12 million project, funded through federal grants and revenue generated by mayor Walt Maddox's Elevate Tuscaloosa sales tax, modernized an old playground in west Tuscaloosa next to the Oliver Lock & Dam and its attached fishing pier.

Those spaces now serve as the beginning of the more than 4,000-foot Western Riverwalk, which was designed by TTL and snakes between the river and the site of the closed Tuscaloosa Country Club, where the landscape is still being well-maintained.

Although it is not yet connected to the rest of the Riverwalk, Maddox said that day is coming soon after the city begins Phase III of its yearslong project to upgrade Jack Warner Parkway and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in the west end.

"When we passed Elevate Tuscaloosa in 2019, the Western Riverwalk project was one of those foundational projects," Maddox said. "Working with our federal partners today, we unveil a one-mile stretch that is, I think the dollars have proved, not only the most expensive Riverwalk we have ever built in Tuscaloosa but by far the best Riverwalk we have ever built in Tuscaloosa and we did it because we believe in West Tuscaloosa."

Maddox said for generations, that part of town was forgotten by the city government as they invested money in improving other areas and largely neglected the predominantly Black West End.

"When this Western Riverwalk is ultimately connected during the MLK / Jack Warner Phase 3, it is going to link this Riverwalk with the Amphitheater, our downtown, the Saban Center, and the University of Alabama," Maddox said. "More important it will continue to show our deep and Abiding Faith in the future of West Tuscaloosa and our entire city."

The path also features an outdoor gathering space for picnics, events, live music and other "endless possibilities," which was a theme District 1 city councilman Matthew Wilson hit hard during remarks Thursday morning.

"I'm truly grateful and honored to say that the opening of this Western Riverwalk will open up even more endless possibilities to walking, jogging, picnics, families is coming to sit down with their children, children running and playing in this area - there are endless possibilities," Wilson said. "And who knows what may happen in the future with the properties such as the Tuscaloosa Country Club property behind us being right in proximity of this Western Riverwalk. On this trail, extending eventually some nine-plus miles which will connect different parts of our city together, these are endless possibilities."

Maddox talked about how narrow the vote to pass his Elevate Tuscaloosa tax plan was - the first vote on the matter failed 3-4. When the council did adopt his recommendation to increase the city's sales tax by 1 cent in order to fund projects related to recreation, quality of life, infrastructure and public safety, it was only 4-3.

But Maddox said Councilwoman Raevan Howard, who represents District 2, was always a supporter of the plan because she had the vision to see days like Thursday ahead.

"Elevate has still been the hardest decision I've ever had to vote on since I've been on the council but like so many other ribbon cuttings and groundbreaking that we have had in the past, I am extremely excited and proud of the opportunity to have been able to vote on Elevate Tuscaloosa," Howard said. "Like Matthew - Councilor Wilson - I am a native of West Tuscaloosa and this Riverwalk is - to see it transformed to what it is now from how it used to be - means so much to me and my community. Not just District 1, but all of West Tuscaloosa."

Rather than your traditional ribbon-cutting with a group of politicians cheesing it and wielding giant scissors, Howard and Wilson joined students from Tuscaloosa's Oakdale Elementary School and sprinted right through it.

The now-open Western Riverwalk is accessible from 43rd Avenue by the Lock & Dam playground. It offers unprecedented views of the Black Warrior, the bridges spanning it and the Army Corps of Engineers' infrastructure.

For more coverage of new developments in the city and Elevate projects as they are announced and completed, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.

"I am so excited about what's taking place through our Elevate projects and I just want to say if you haven't been paying attention and if you don't know, the best is still yet to come," Howard said. "There's still lots more to come not just in District 1 but in District 2, there's a lot more to come and I am still, today, so proud and so thankful for Elevate Tuscaloosa."