Tuesday, August 13, 2024–10:55 a.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

The Rome City Commission has awarded a bid to Tri-Scapes LLC for work on the Unity Point Project.

Unity Point is located at the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers and has been the victim of erosion from the flow of the river.

“We’ve had CTI Engineering Group working with us, and they have helped us secure the necessary, environmental permits,” said Rome City Manager Sammy Rich. “We have made a lot of progress. We’ve got an agreement with the adjacent property owner that will allow us to move forward with construction. So, we open bids and Tri-Scapes LLC out of Cumming, Georgia is the low bitter in the amount of $1,388,538.43.”

Funding was included in the 2013 special purpose sales tax for the project.

“We’ve got SPLOST money in the bank to fund this, and we were also successful in getting another $400,000 from some of the Section 319 stormwater money,” Rich said. “So we are good on budget, but we would certainly love to get going on this project. We anticipate the contractor would mobilize within 10 days and they’ve got a 180 day deadline to complete the project.”

The design will feature hardscaping up top and a bioswale and rain gardens instead of a retaining wall that will allow any surface runoff to run off the site in a natural way.

There will be an ADA-accessible grid and railing that will allow people to do down to an observation area.