Tuesday was a big day for those living in Canyon Lake. It was the grand re-opening of an improved service road and popular walkway on top of Canyon Lake Dam. It's used by those living there, but also by tourists going to use the lake.
The walkway and service road have been closed since Memorial Day of 2018. But it’s about to be re-opened now that it is ADA compliant.
“Our dam was constructed over 50 years ago as a service road," Javier Ortiz, the Canyon Lake park manager said. "It’s a service road; it wasn’t designed for pedestrian traffic.”
But with views of the hills and Canyon Lake, residents and tourists alike flocked to the road which doubled as a walkway. “You will see people here every day. We get high visitation in this area people like to bring their friends," Ortiz said.
But last year, one man in a wheelchair put the wheels in motion for this dam’s walkway to become ADA compliant. $30,000 in funds were donated by the Comal County Water Oriented Recreation District. Those funds were matched by the Guadalupe Blanco River Authority. The total of $60,000 was then donated to the Dam Community Alliance, which donated the materials to the Army Corps of Engineers.
That’s where students in the Ag Mechanics class at Canyon Lake High School came into play. They designed, built, and installed a wheelchair accessible gate.
“The gate is mounted on the main gate and it swings both ways," senior Bryson Witt said. "So you open it up this way and you can drive your wheelchair in, and swing it back the other way and drive right back through there.”
The four students we spoke with couldn’t be more thrilled to help out their community.
Senior Clay Tillman said, “Handicapped people can access it too, which they couldn’t before, so it feels good to allow them to get to finally experience it better.”
Witt added, “I know a lot of people who go down there for runs and exercise and then they closed it down, so they couldn’t do that anymore.”
Senior Jacob McCutchen told us, “It makes me feel good helping out whenever I can.”
Fellow senior Boogie Crownover added. “I’m glad we could find an easier way to get it back open through the Corps of Engineers.”
The Army Corps of Engineers welcomes everyone to the dam but wants to remind anyone going in the water to wear a life jacket.
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