Cumberland Whitewater Park Project Moves Forward

By Larry Lempert

A proposal to create a whitewater park in Cumberland has taken a significant step forward with the selection of a project manager and refinement of the park's design.

The design seeks to provide recreation for a range of paddling experience. It will be family-oriented at lower water levels but will feature seven drops of 1½ to 2½ feet that should be fun for experienced paddlers, according to Jim Christie of Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. (CEC), a national firm that has been developing the design. 

The park will not have the advanced character of the Wisp whitewater slalom course at Deep Creek Lake. Unlike that course, it will be free. 

The whitewater features will be on the Potomac just upstream of the confluence with Wills Creek. The Blue Bridge Dam, which is 20 feet high and dates back to 1955, will be removed. The park is part of a larger recreational development—River Park at Canal Place—incorporating several trails, a riverfront walkway, viewing areas, and a fish passage. 

Christie, a CEC principal in Bridgeport, WV, says that a target date for completion has not been announced, but completion is at least four years away. The Canal Place Preservation & Development Authority (CPPDA) May 28 selected the project manager—environmental consulting firm EcoLogix Group of Parkton, MD. 

A 2020 feasibility study by CEC says that ideas for bringing visitors to Cumberland for recreation go back 30 years. Studies looking into removal of the dam were first done in 2009-10, and a whitewater park concept surfaced in 2013. Advocates are seeking to expand on the success of the Greater Allegheny Passage trail and the C&O Canal towpath. The River Park will increase economic growth by attracting consumers, stimulating creation or expansion of businesses, and creating jobs, says the website for the Passages of the Western Potomac Heritage Area, under which the CPPDA operates.

The estimated cost is about $30 million. Asked about getting the necessary funds, Deidra Ritchie, executive director of the CPPDA, says that she is encouraged by the available sources of grant money, including from the State of Maryland. And she is confident that the return on investment from such grants would be ample, as indicated by the project's economic impact study. At least some funds have been secured, according to the heritage area website.

Some observers familiar with the plans have expressed skepticism about the predicted economic impact of the overall development. And some have questioned whether paddlers will be attracted, given the classic whitewater opportunities in western Maryland, eastern West Virginia, and southwestern Pennsylvania, including year-round paddling on the Lower Yough. Others point out that having a play park relatively near those destinations, and with water flowing when the alternatives are too high or too low, could be enticing.