MONTGOMERY, Ala: Montgomery’s newest attraction and engineering feat, Montgomery Whitewater Park, has been recognized with a prestigious engineering award. The project was honored with the Grand Prize at the 2025 Engineering Excellence Awards presented by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Alabama (ACEC Alabama), in addition to receiving an ACEC National Recognition Award thanks to its unique design and economic impact.
Each year, ACEC highlights the most impressive and successful projects in the state. This year, Montgomery Whitewater Park was selected for ACEC Alabama’s top honor, the Grand Prize, which goes to the project featuring the most impressive and impactful engineering work in the state. Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) and Calibre-S2o both provided engineering services for the project and jointly nominated Montgomery Whitewater Park for the award.
The dream of developing the west side of Montgomery into an innovative attraction was years in the making. The vision of Montgomery Whitewater Park grew into a reality thanks to the bold and visionary leadership of state and local officials who formed the Montgomery County Community Cooperative District (MCCCD). The MCCCD contracted with Southern Whitewater Development Group (SWDG) to develop the facility.
GMC’s Montgomery team helped spearhead the project and served as the local expert while also providing site civil engineering as well as surveying, construction materials testing, landscape architecture, transportation engineering, environmental, geotechnical engineering and electrical engineering services. Calibre-S2o served as the whitewater engineer.
With such a unique project, the models for the park had to be tested in Europe before they could be built in Montgomery. The site proved to be a challenge as the land needed to be tilted to the right elevation for the desired effect of the channel design. Engineering expertise and collaboration were necessary to make the project successful.
The park offers a variety of outdoor activities, the most impressive being the Olympic-standard whitewater channels, which are not only the first of their kind in the state but one of only three similar facilities in the nation. The innovative channel design features a beginner channel and a more advanced competition channel to cater to a diverse set of needs and preferences.
The park is a testament to engineering feats and often hosts school groups and professional organizations to inspire STEM learning. In addition to educational positive impacts, the park has made a large economic impact as well, including job creation, boosted tourism and increased revenue for local businesses.
Montgomery Whitewater Park is becoming a hub for social and economic vitality for Montgomery. The project played a key role in securing local investments, the most notable being the new Meta data center project in Montgomery. Montgomery Whitewater Park also generated $1.5M for the local economy while it hosted the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for canoe/kayak slalom in the spring of 2024.
The 120-acre world-class outdoor adventure destination has already made an impact in revitalizing the City of Montgomery. It sets new standards for environmentally friendly and economically fruitful whitewater venues and inspires future engineers through educational opportunities. It also drives community involvement and economic growth. The park’s design and engineering prowess will surely play a role in shaping the future of Montgomery.
About Goodwyn Mills Cawood
Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) is one of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the Southeast. Whether designing schools, parks, hospitals and other commercial developments, or providing clean water, safe streets and restoring resilient environments, GMC takes great pride in serving our communities through the transformative work we do. Every project is guided by the foundational concept that communities are built by people, not companies, and we strive to serve our communities with quality, integrity, creativity and care. One of the Southeast’s most comprehensive multi-disciplined firms, GMC is equipped to provide all the services associated with architecture; interior design; civil engineering; environmental services; landscape architecture; planning; transportation engineering; geotechnical engineering; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; surveying; and disaster recovery. www.gmcnetwork.com
About Montgomery Whitewater Park
Montgomery Whitewater Park is a 120-acre state-of-the-art recirculating whitewater park and outdoor adventure center located off I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama offering a variety of outdoor lifestyle activities both in and out of the water for all ages and skill levels. Developed by Southern Whitewater Design Group for the Montgomery County Community Cooperative Group, this park was conceived and developed as a large-scale public-private investment to catalyze economic growth and provide health-focused recreation and employment opportunities. More information is available at Montgomerywhitewater.com.
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