Business View Magazine
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The Chattahoochee River Whitewater course opened
in May, 2013 at cost of $32 million. The 2.5 mile
course has Class II – Class IV+ rapids and was recent-
ly named one of the “Top 12 Greatest Man-made Ad-
ventures on the Planet” by USA Today. The team that
developed it was the same one that constructed the
kayak course on the Upper Ocoee River for the 1996
Summer Olympics. In order to get the Chattahoochee
ready for the project, two upriver dams owned by Geor-
gia Power and Alabama Power, but were no longer pro-
ducing electricity, had to be
removed. Once they were torn
out, and the natural flow of
the river returned, the design
team modeled the riverbed in
an indoor facility so that they
would know exactly how to
structure the course to make
the water flow correctly.
“Then they went in and divert-
ed the water and constructed
the bottom parts of the river-
bed,” says Culligan; and al-
ways with an eye to safety. “A
lot of rapids create what they
call a ‘recycling rapid,’ which
when somebody falls out into
the water, it traps them in that
rapid and they’re not able to
get out. Now the riverbed’s
been constructed in certain
parts to push them through
the rapids, so if they fall out of
the boat, it will spit them right
through the rapids. It makes it
a really safe course.” When a
dam further upstream releas-
es more water, the higher flow
increases the river’s speed, as
well as the course’s difficulty. At times of low flow, the
river calms down and less experienced or adventurous
rafters can navigate it at a more leisurely pace.
“You start at one of the most northern points of the
city and you take the Chattahoochee River completely
through downtown Phenix City and Uptown Columbus
– which is what they call their downtown,” Culligan
says. “It’s got multiple rapids; some are as wild as Col-
orado. But it’s as warm as Costa Rica with a tempera-
