Riverfront Boardwalk project moves forward after eight years of planning

Selma’s riverfront is getting a boost of activity as the City of Selma moves forward on the $800,000 first phase of a Riverfront Boardwalk project that will eventually, in the second phase, provide access to the Alabama River from downtown Selma. 

One step that needed to happen before the boardwalk could proceed was completion of the longtime erosion project by the Army Corp of Engineers that has been stabilizing Selma’s riverbank over the last few years. The stabilization’s completion will be recognized in a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the city of Selma and Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce on July 8. 

The boardwalk project has taken eight years to move forward and spanned three administrations before getting to this first phase of planning with the Alabama Department of Transportation under their Transportation Alternatives Program.  

The first proposal was made in 2016 under former Mayor George Evans, and the second phase that includes river access was pushed forward by Evans’ successor Darrio Melton. 

Now under Mayor James Perkins Jr., the project has been resurrected and funding secured to get the project completed. Planning Director Danielle Wooten said the project fell through the cracks with hold ups in funding for years, but for the last two years, her team got the wheels turning again, got the funding approved and recently met with the ALDOT team in person to plan logistics. 

Wooten hopes to have the first phase of walkways on the land part of riverfront park built in the next year and then launch into the second phase that involves building a walkway into the Alabama River after that. The costs for each phase is $800,000 in ALDOT funds, and it will be two years before completed, she said. 

The project will bring economic and social benefits to the city, with plans that include charter boat options at the river docks, similar to Montgomery’s Riverwalk, Wooten said. Selma has had discussions with Montgomery to encourage boats to make trips between the cities’ riverwalks and pick up passengers once Selma’s is open, she added. 

The boardwalk will be part of the city’s effort to grow as a tourism hub that includes opening a transportation hub for tourists at the Historic Western Railway Building that will be renovated with a $500,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority to expand a Civil Rights Visitor’s Center on Broad Street.  Selma is also purchasing an electronic open-air trolley, a pedal bus and a pedal taxi for the Innovative Tourism Hub. 

Wooten said the city will train people to be tourism center operators and, when the dock is open, will make available at the charter boats agencies and other outfitters offering paddleboats or canoes. 

The walkway will start at the stairs by the playground and stretch across the riverbank below the St. James Hotel and wrap around to the Bridgetender’s house. It will include a lookout in phase two.  

Erosion has changed the look of Selma’s riverbank, she added, but it is much improved thanks to the Army Corp of Engineers project that’s been underway since 2020. Funding for the erosion project comes from the Bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

With the erosion project complete, the city started on the first phase of the amphitheater parking improvements. Asphalt has been laid already and next is curbing, striping and landscaping at the outdoor theater that has been used more often through the Levitt Amp Selma concert series the last two summers. 

Selma has plans for a larger $38 million project along Water Avenue near the amphitheater that would stretch to Arts Revive on the other end. The plan includes a multiplex for conventions, municipal offices and a public-private partnership for a large hotel with the convention center. Funding isn’t secured for the entire project, however, Congresswoman Terri Sewell secured $4 million for the design of it in late 2022 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s economic development initiative. It was announced before the tornado hit Selma in January 2023.