Waco Bicycle Club member Rusty Hansgen (left) and Park Ranger Justin Sheppard cut a new bike trail in Cameron Park at the Mouth of the Bosque River. Park rangers and club members are rerouting the current bike trails.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

Cameron Park’s renaissance hasn’t come cheap, but Waco taxpayers appear to think it is worth the money.

A bond election that passed in 2007 assigned $6.9 million for the park.

The funds cover the replacement of Redwood Shelter and Rock Shelter; renovation of Cameron Park Clubhouse; and new restrooms, trails, roads, parking lots, landscaping and lighting.

Combined with yearly improvements the city has made during the past five years, the cost comes out to at least $10 million, city officials said.

Here are some recent improvements:

•  Fencing at cliff areas — $921,800. Replacement of aging walls with fence and stone columns at Lovers Leap, Circle Point and Emmon’s Cliff.

•  Pecan Bottoms playground — $300,500. Large playground areas accessible by wheelchair ramps; specialty trail.  

•  Pecan Bottoms lighting — Costing $125,000, this 2006 project included customized lights based a historic lamp in Proctor Springs.

Work crews from Waco Paving assemble forms for the new street at Cameron Park’s Lovers Leap, which is being renovated.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

•  Pecan Bottoms and Anniversary Park restrooms — $480,000. This project included a sanitary sewer connection also used for the new Redwood Shelter restroom.  

•  Pecan Bottoms pavilion, riverwalk/trail, pedestrian bridge at Herring Avenue — Expected completion is in the mid-2000s. The bridge cost $1 million and the pavilion cost $180,000.

•  Disc golf course expansion — About $15,000.

•  Proctor Springs — Project includes parking, pavilion, lighting, new pedestrian bridge, trail, signage and historic study.

•  Redwood Shelter — Project features parking, pavilion, plaza, restrooms, trails, lighting, signage, landscape and irrigation.

•  Wilson Creek pedestrian bridge — Project includes one-third mile of trail connections, drainage and erosion improvements, parking improvements in Pecan Bottoms.

•  Rock Shelter renovations — Project features refurbished pavilion, plaza, trails, parking lot, lighting, sign.

•  Jacob’s Ladder renovation — Included are stairway repairs, new cedar railing system, plazas at top and bottom, and erosion improvements.

Day campers from the YMCA make their way up Jacob’s Ladder, which connects the Cameron Park Clubhouse with the Brazos River. After 88 steps (they counted 90), the hikers required an extended water break. The city is repairing the stairs and adding new handrails.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

•  Clubhouse renovation — Costing about $400,000, the project features new plazas, parking lot, lighting, landscaping, signage.

•  Circle Point — Parking, reconstructed historic pavilion, lighting, trails, raised viewing platform and landscaping are included.

•  Mouth of Bosque — New road and parking, new pavilion, restrooms, lighting, signage, landscaping and irrigation are included.

•  Lovers Leap — Project will feature raised overlook trail with seating, parking, refurbished pavilion, reconstructed historic pavilion, restrooms, trails, lighting, landscaping and irrigation.

•  Cameron Park Clubhouse — Costing about $300,000, the interior and facade have renovations, along with a new covered veranda.

•  Northern Gateway — Included are the pavilion, plaza, playground, restrooms, trails, parking lot, landscaping, irrigation, lighting and signage.

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

757-5752

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