Augusta Canal 3rd level will finally get cleaned

The Augusta Commission plans to give the Augusta Canal Authority $460,000 to clean up the third level of the canal. That's the stretch between the old Davidson High School and the Southern Mill in downtown.

Mayor Pro Tem Betty Beard has been trying for more than a year to get city staff to handle the clean up. After all, the SPLOST money that's being used to fund the project has been in the budget for years.

But city staff was getting nowhere with the project. The third level of the canal had turned into a swampy breeding ground for mosquitoes -- which is hardly the kind of thing the city needs to spur development.

Only now, with the groundbreaking for the new judicial center coming up, has city staff moved on the project -- in this case passing it off to the canal authority.

Let's see how fast cleanup actually happens.

In the meantime, the canal authority is getting another $2.5 million from SPLOST to do the following things before 2010:

Create $1 million in new exhibits in the interpretive center.

Create a 3rd level multi-use trail.

Create a park on the 3rd level.

Complete a kayak feasibility study.

Extend the New Bartram Trail.

Put in new signage and markers.

Improve the dock for the Petersburg boats.

Improve the hydroelectic facility at Exterprise and Sibley mills.

Improve the multi-use trail along the canal.

Improve access to Eisenhower Park from the canal.

Create nature trails.

Improvements at the headgates.