Behind the blue fence: See how massive Montgomery water park is taking shape near downtown

Jeffrey Gustin landed at the airport and caught an Uber to downtown as usual, but this time he tried something different. He’s used to hearing drivers spend the trip talking about Montgomery’s $50 million whitewater project once they find out that Gustin is one of the key people behind it. He wanted to see what would happen if he didn’t reveal his job.

It didn’t matter. The driver spent the trip filling Gustin in on all the details of a huge whitewater park and outdoor center that’s under construction near downtown. “I never told him who I was,” Gustin laughed.

The driver was about to learn something new. He took Gustin past the blue fence that loops around the sprawling site off Maxwell Boulevard and saw the scope of what was behind it for the first time. “His jaw hit the steering wheel,” Gustin said.

There’s no water yet, but a fleet of heavy machinery rumbles across a sea of red dirt on multiple levels of elevation that soon will become pools and channels. Hard hats dot the dam-like skeleton of a pump station that’s now rising from the lower level, and man-sized pipes wait to be buried. The movement of people and equipment snakes back and forth to the skyline, across a 45-acre site stretching from Interstate 65 to the outskirts of Maxwell Air Force Base.

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It’s been two years since the city, county and other partners announced a collaborative effort to build an outdoor recreation center that would feature man-made whitewater courses winding through shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and other attractions. But most of that two years has been spent on planning and design. Physical work on the site started less than five months ago, even as shipping and supply shortages continued around the world.

Montgomery Whitewater has tried to navigate around those obstacles while staying on course, and the obstacles have been plenty. For instance, Gustin said one of the parts used for the whitewater channel is made in only two places: Texas and the United Kingdom. It’s unavailable from Texas for the next three years, meaning they’re forced to buy it from the UK “at a reasonable increase” in price.

Getting it here has been a separate challenge. The most recent shipping voyage was rerouted and didn't make it to the UK at all. “It was ready a month ago and we’ve missed four different shipments now,” he said. “… It makes it really difficult to schedule anything out.”

Despite that, Gustin said they’re still ahead of schedule on an aggressive two-year construction timeline, with plans to finish by May 2023.

It’s a daunting project. General contractor JESCO Inc. is managing the overall site with a series of major contractors handling each piece of the puzzle. The pump station is the heart and soul of the center and has to be set at its deepest point, so they started there. They’ve carved out the three-acre bottom pond, and five- and six-foot-wide pipes have already been buried, with more pipes going in now.

The next few months will be more of the same. “It’s dirt, utilities and concrete, and you seem like you’re doing it forever,” Gustin said.

The two largest buildings near the front of the center will start construction in January. Three smaller ones — a raft building, an orientation building and an amphitheater — all start construction in spring, around the same time that most of the course will be covered with concrete.

Some of that work will rise far above the blue walls. Site prep is underway at the highest point of the center for a zipline and climbing tower that will be visible from the interstate.

There are long-term plans for more attractions across the wider site that’s controlled by the cooperative district that oversees the project, including jogging and biking trails that connect to other parts of the city. And while most of the focus so far has been on the whitewater course and the central features of the park, managers are already preparing for the next step.

“We’ve recently started looking beyond what’s funded in this project to a potential hotel coming in on site,” Gustin said.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.