WOKA Whitewater Park takes shape along Arkansas-Oklahoma border

WATTS, Okla. -- The WOKA Whitewater Park is taking shape, as officials look forward to a 2023 completion date.

Media members and others invited to a "hard-hat" tour of the grounds trudged through mud and over rocks Tuesday to get their first look at the site since officials with the Grand River Dam Authority in Oklahoma and Siloam Springs announced plans for the park last fall.

The dam authority will oversee and manage the park.

The 30-acre whitewater park on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border will host kayaking, surfing, stand-up paddleboarding, tubing and rafting, officials announced. WOKA is a combination of the words water, Oklahoma and Arkansas, according to a fact sheet provided at the tour.

The Illinois River park is expected to host 85,000 visitors annually, according to the fact sheet. The park is on the north bank of the river.

The Walton Family Foundation is paying 95% of the park's $33 million construction cost, according to the fact sheet. The foundation also provided funding for the park's design.

The park is on Twin Falls Road, a winding dirt road that crosses a low-water cement slab just off U.S. 59.

The park's main attraction will be an approximately 1,200-foot-long, 100-foot-wide side channel off the river with eight drop features to provide wave action for kayakers, surfers and tubers of all skill levels, the fact sheet states.

The tour highlighted the drop points people will use when the course is finished. Drop eight on the park's east side will be the starting point. Two automated entrance gates there can be changed to create a breaking wave for kayakers or what is called a green wave for surfers, according to the fact sheet.

About 60,000 cubic yards of rock were blasted out to form the channel, said Derek Salmonson, project manager for Crossland Construction.

Salmonson said work is slightly behind schedule because of heavy rain that flooded the site in late April.

"With the sun out, we are catching up rapidly," he said.

The fact sheet states construction is expected to be done in 2023, though a more specific date is not listed.

Steel barriers that range from 4 to 9 feet tall separate the watercourse from the Illinois River during construction. The old spillway of Lake Frances also sits on the other side of the wall.

Lake Frances was essentially depleted in 1990 when its dam was severely damaged, according to a 2017 report in the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader.

Additional amenities will include waterfront, shaded spectator seating; rental services; parking; trails; public restrooms; and course put-in and take-outs.

Jared Skaggs with the dam authority showed where the food and float operations area will be located. This will be where people will check in before they head to the course.

"We hope to see a lot of families come out and use it," he said.

Local police and fire departments could use the park for swift-water training, he said.

Skaggs also pointed out the concrete forms above the construction site that will be brought into the channel to form different shaped waves. Workers on Tuesday worked on rebar sections at a few of the drop areas.

Siloam Springs operates a waterpark eight miles upstream, which served as the inspiration for WOKA. The city deeded 17.25 acres to the dam authority from the Siloam Springs Water Resource Company and will further partner to reinforce the existing dam, which supplies water to Siloam Springs from upstream, according to a news release issued in October when the park was announced.

Materials repurposed from the whitewater course construction will be used to create a stair-step dam that will mitigate hydraulic conditions and dangerous currents, according to the fact sheet.

Since March 2018, the dam authority has worked with the engineering firm McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group to design the park, according to the October release.

Mike Jones may be reached by email at [email protected].

The main channel of the Illinois River is seen Tuesday June 29 2021 on the left of a steel barrier while the channel that will be the whitewater park is at right. Go to nwaonline.com/210629Daily/to see more photos. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff

Guests tour on Tuesday June 29 2021 the main channel of the whitewater run while workers make progress on structures that will create rapids and wavers. Go to nwaonline.com/210630Daily/ to see more photos. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)

The Illinois River flows on Tuesday June 29 2021 over the remnants of the Lake Frances dam. Go to nwaonline.com/210630Daily/ to see more photos. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)