Construction Begins on Grand Rapids’ Rapids Restoration Project
Construction has begun in the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids, moving an approximately 18-year civic effort into its first active in-river phase. The project is intended to remove four low-head dams and restore the rapids that gave the city its name.
Work started July 1 in the lower reach of the river, between the Bridge Street and Fulton Street bridges. Taplin Group, the project contractor, began building temporary causeways and a cofferdam to provide access for construction and river work.
The immediate development is the start of physical construction, not the completion of the restoration. The available project updates do not say that all four dams have been removed or that the rapids have already been restored.
What the first phase involves
The first phase calls for removing four low-head dams in downtown Grand Rapids. The City of Grand Rapids describes the effort as a lower Grand River habitat-restoration project, with goals that include restoring rapids, improving public safety and restoring aquatic habitat.
The temporary causeways and cofferdam are access structures for the work in the river. Their construction marks a change from planning and preparation to an active construction phase in the downtown lower reach. The approved sources do not establish the exact schedule for each dam-removal segment.
The project’s public-safety purpose is tied to the conditions created by low-head dams. City project materials identify dangerous hydraulic conditions as an issue addressed by the restoration. The same materials identify habitat restoration and the return of rapids as central purposes of the work.
A long-planned downtown river change
The effort follows approximately 18 years of community work. That timeline underscores the scale of the undertaking: the project is focused on a major section of the downtown river corridor rather than a single riverbank improvement.
The restoration has also drawn attention from multiple levels of government. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies the Grand River/Grand Rapids restoration as a priority project. An EPA update dated July 14, 2026, describes federal, state and local partners working on the effort and records project milestones.
The city’s project description centers on the lower Grand River and connects the work to three local concerns: the river’s physical character, safety around the dams and the condition of aquatic habitat. Those goals describe intended outcomes; the packet does not include monitoring data showing that specific ecological results have already occurred.
What happens next
For now, the known next step is continued in-river construction in the lower reach, supported by the temporary causeways and cofferdam. The project’s first active work will focus on the downtown area between the two bridges and on the four low-head dams identified for removal.
The approved sources do not provide a final completion date or total project cost. They also do not provide a complete schedule for the removal of each dam. Those omissions mean the July 1 construction start should not be treated as a final project deadline or a statement that the entire corridor has already changed.
What has changed is the project’s status. After roughly 18 years of community effort, Grand Rapids’ namesake river restoration has entered construction, beginning with access work and the first phase of a plan to remove four low-head dams and restore rapids, public safety and aquatic habitat in the downtown lower Grand River.
Sources
- It’s Happening: Construction starts on the Grand River Rapids Restoration, WGVU News
- Project Updates for Grand River/Grand Rapids, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Grand River Revitalization Project, City of Grand Rapids
Look for updates to this story
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