Macon Magazine

38 maconmagazine.com | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 Riverside Drive trails. It can be difficult to see them right now because of the interchange construction, but they are there. Once the interchange construction finishes, the master plan will all make sense because all the trails will connect. "For all of my life, we treated the Ocmulgee like a big drainage ditch. There was no recreation at all. You only saw it when you drove across the bridges," said Bill Causey, NewTown Macon engineer and Ocmulgee Heritage Trail committee member. "That is changing." Amerson River Park makes it easier for you to float or canoe down the river with its intake and outake ramps. It's now going to get easier for you to walk from one ramp to the other with the Amerson Boat Launch Trail in the works. The plan is to add about 1,700 feet of pavement and a bridge to connect the trail in the park from one end of the ramp to the other. Sheridan said they are hoping to have the trail completed and open by the end of November. Another phase of the plan is the Rose Hill Cemetery Connection, which should begin in October. "We built a section of the trail many years ago, but it went nowhere," said Sheridan. "Now we have the funds to connect this segment." OCMULGEE HERITAGE TRAIL MASTER PLAN Imagine grabbing that cup of coffee or lunch downtown then walking or biking to Amerson River Park. It seems like a far-fetched idea right now, since you would have to dodge busy traffic and cross the interstate, but to Chris Sheridan it's a reality that's already so close. Sheridan is one of the many leaders who has been working on this plan for two decades. The Ocmulgee Heritage Trail Master Plan calls for creating a trail running along the Ocmulgee River, connecting Amerson River Park to downtown, historic neighborhoods and the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park. "If you're on a trail and you're at a walking pace and you pass somebody, especially if you're from the South, you're at least going to make eye contact, nod your head and say 'hello,'" said Sheridan, chair of the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail Committee. "But somebody you don't even know, you're going to nod at them, that's a little thread of a connection, and if you do that over and over again, you have a fabric of a connection. That is what this plan is all about." Different phases of the master plan have been worked on throughout the years, such as the Walnut Creek Connector and Clinton Street and CHRIS SHERIDAN AND EDNA RUIZ

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