RALEIGH, N.C. – State and local officials will gather Tuesday to celebrate the completion of a new boardwalk at the Lake Waccamaw Dam in Columbus County that will allow users of a popular greenway to hike a continuous path around the lake.
The park will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 11 a.m. at the new boardwalk. Town officials, Friends of Lake Waccamaw, and N.C. Department of Transportation officials will be in attendance.
Prior to the boardwalk’s completion, walkers, hikers, and cyclists visiting the lake reached a dead end near the dam between parcels of state park land, and had to back-track. The boardwalk was funded by the N.C. Department of Transportation and will be maintained by staff at Lake Waccamaw State Park.
The new boardwalk will also expand the accessibility to state park lands at Lake Waccamaw. “We are so grateful to the DOT for finding funds for this project,” State Parks Director Dwayne Patterson said. “This boardwalk will make two parcels of state park land more easily accessible from the greenway and improve recreational opportunities for the community and visitors to the area.”
The lake is the heart of Town of Lake Waccamaw, offering gathering places, fishing, boating, camping, and paths for walking, running and cycling. Officials with the town of Lake Waccamaw requested the project in order to alleviate barriers to recreation caused by discontinuous paths. Terry Hutchens, who was a member of the N.C. Board of Transportation under three governors, secured $360,000 in DOT discretionary funds to complete the project.
“This project was long overdue, and it will be a great benefit to the thousands of people who come to this beautiful lake and state park every year,” said Hutchens, who lives in Fayetteville.
The project also supports DOT’s goal to promote other modes of travel. A DOT study this year showed that investments in greenways promote economic development, higher tax revenues and job growth in those communities.
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