"To me, it's the only ramp on the island that can get you to the big water around us." Steve Burrow said that to the Gulf Shores City Council in August, as AL.com reported. He has launched from Canal Park on the Intracoastal Waterway for 25 years.
City staff had recommended closing that ramp. A week after the hearing, the council voted to keep it. In October, after Hurricane Isaias cancelled the 53rd National Shrimp Festival, Waterway Village merchants put together their own art event within days. The district has a formal plan behind it, a $24.7 million bridge going up over the canal, and plazas on the drawing board. This year showed that the residents and businesses already there have a large say in what the district holds onto.
The plan on paper, and the ramp that didn't fit it
The city adopted the Waterway Village Zoning Overlay District in 2012. It calls for a walkable, mixed-use downtown and entertainment district. You can see the plan along 24th Avenue already. The corridor was rebuilt with narrower travel lanes, tighter turns, wider sidewalks and on-street parking near Acme Oyster House and Tacky Jacks.
The Canal Park boat launch sits on that same street, under State Route 59. It opened in 1999 under a 20-year cooperative agreement with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. City staff, led by City Administrator Jon Walker, gave several reasons for closing it. Two newer public launches are nearby. Fast tides, heavy waterway traffic, barges and the bridge supports make the spot risky for inexperienced boaters. Staff also wrote that the ramp and its trailer parking were an "underutilization of public right-of-way" that could serve future retail and restaurant needs. If the launch had closed, the city would have asked ALDOT for permission to redesign the area under the highway with a canal overlook, more green space and more parking.
Those other two launches are real options. The Launch at ICW on Cotton Creek Drive, west of the Foley Beach Express, opened in 2022 with six ramps and 284 parking spaces on 47 acres. The Launch at CR 6, at 5587 County Road 6, opened to the public in April 2025, according to Gulf Coast Media. Speakers at the Aug. 17 work session argued that neither one replaces a ramp you can reach without driving the Route 59 corridor. According to AL.com, Councilman Joe Garris pointed out that charter operators use local ramps all year. He also mentioned families who come in for Thanksgiving and Christmas and fish the canal.
The line from that meeting that stuck came from resident Alvin Jones. AL.com reported that he praised the improvements, then added: "It's called the Waterway Village. I think you need to wade into the water."
The council agreed with him. At its Aug. 24 regular meeting it adopted Resolution 7169-26, which amends the ALDOT lease for Canal Park, "with the amendment to leave the boat launch open." The vote was unanimous apart from one abstention, according to the city's meeting minutes. So the walkable district will have a working boat ramp in the middle of it.
When the festival fell through, the district filled the gap
Six weeks later the merchants tested the same idea from the other direction. Hurricane Isaias was approaching, and the National Shrimp Festival was cancelled. The Waterway Village Arts & Entertainment District Merchants Association organized a Shrimp Fest Art Walk for Oct. 24, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Gulf Coast Media reported. Councilwoman Jennifer Guthrie owns Glow Yoga Studio and Shop and serves as the association's president. She told the paper, "We know artists depend on events like the Shrimp Festival to support their livelihoods."
The art walk spread out across the district instead of gathering on the public beachfront. Artists set up 12-by-12 booths inside and outside these businesses:
- Tacky Jacks
- Sunny 105.7
- Big Beach Brewing
- Gulf Coast Arts Alliance
- Galway Irish Public House
- Acme Oyster House
- Gulf Shores Builders Supply
- Isla Wine
- Foam Coffee
- Pottery Central, with clay artist Steven Dark
The format had already been tried once. Tara Gifford of Blue Girl Beading and clay artist Maya Cantrell held a pop-up at Big Beach Brewing on Oct. 8, right after the festival cancelled. Gifford told Gulf Coast Media the smaller setting works for followers who "can't make it around easily to a large event like Shrimp Festival." The city did its part on fees. It set a $25 one-time vendor license for the art walk and is refunding the $100 Shrimp Festival special events license to every vendor, whether or not they asked for it.
Big Beach Brewing showing up on both lists makes sense. It opened in October 2016 under Jim and Julie Shamburger with 12 beers on tap. Kevin and Domini Corcoran and Doug and Tammy Warren bought it in April 2025. They have since doubled the lineup to 24 taps and added flatbreads and dips. The brewery marked its 10th anniversary in October with beer releases and live music, per Gulf Coast Media. It is still the only brewery on the island.
The bridge that gives the district a center
The merchants put on the art walk with no plaza and no centerpiece. The pedestrian bridge is meant to supply both. It crosses the Intracoastal Waterway where Canal Road meets East Second Street, with Harrison Construction as contractor. AL.com puts the cost at $24.7 million. Its north and south towers are built as elevator towers. The city reported in July that concrete for the north-side stairs and landings was done.
The lights are the detail most people will notice first. On June 22 the council approved a $408,940 decorative package: 50 fixtures, with 12 on each tower and 13 along each side of the span. They can be controlled remotely and come programmed with up to 30 color combinations for holidays and events, Gulf Coast Media reported.
The schedule has shifted, and the plazas around the bridge got more expensive this fall. Here is where things stand:
| Item | Earlier figure | Latest figure |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge timeline | Jan. 14, 2027 completion date, as reported in June 2026 | Spring 2027 opening, per the city's Sept. 25, 2026 update |
| Plaza parks opening | Not set | Goal is to open with the bridge |
| Plaza funding | $3.6 million GOMESA grant accepted in January 2026 | $4.8 million current construction estimate |
| Plaza change order | None | About $1.2 million, slated for a council vote Oct. 26, 2026 |
| Phase one plaza site work | Not scheduled | Expected completion Dec. 31, 2026 |
The proposed change order would pull the plaza work out of the main bridge contract. The extra money would come from parks and recreation impact fees plus $80,000 left over from the bridge borrowing. Phase one turns the empty ground around the bridge into seat walls, sidewalks, retaining walls, plaza steps and concrete paving, along with grading and drainage work.
The bridge lights, the plaza steps and the 24th Avenue sidewalks are all built for the kind of day the merchants threw together on Oct. 24. From next spring, events like that will have a central spot.
What's still torn up, and what comes next
North of the canal, things will look unfinished for a while. As of the city's July update, access on East 2nd Street north of the waterway was limited to local traffic while the superstructure was being built. Paving and concrete crews were due back in fall 2026. The final asphalt on the north side of East 2nd Street and the road work around 25th Avenue wait until the main span is set.
The Gulf Pines area comes after that. Design is underway for a full rebuild of East 2nd Street between East 22nd and East 23rd avenues. It adds on-street parking, wider sidewalks, stormwater upgrades, and new lighting, trees and benches from East 22nd to East 24th Avenue and from East 25th Avenue to Waterway East Boulevard. That work is waiting on RESTORE Act funding approval, which the city expected in late September to take about six months.
Two dates on the near-term calendar:
- Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 p.m. The inaugural Sunny 105 0.7K fun crawl/walk/run is proposed for the Waterway Village District, with proceeds going to the Christian Service Center food pantry's Christmas efforts. Its assembly permit was on the council's Oct. 19 work-session agenda, so check for final approval before you go.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, at dusk. The regional events calendar lists this as the estimated date for the Annual Christmas Lighted Boat Parade at LuLu's on the Intracoastal Waterway. The listing says the date is not confirmed yet.
If you follow the Canal Park ramp, the plaza vote or the bridge schedule because they affect a property you own or are thinking about buying near the canal, Coate Connection keeps track of Waterway Village changes as they happen. Schedule a Free Consultation and we'll show you how this year's council decisions apply to the streets you care about.
