Parking next to the Flint River in between Cheney Griffin Park and the Highway 84 Bypass will no longer be an option for the eat-in-your-car lunch crowd as the City of Bainbridge finishes up its 1.5-mile nature trail.

The most recently completed portion of the crushed rock trail runs in between Hatcher Road and the river, a spot many use to park and enjoy the Flint views.

Bainbridge Assistant City Manager Roy Oliver said that he and staff anticipated the lunch crowd would be upset but that new picnic tables are being added and existing pavilions will be pressure washed.

The portion of Hatcher Road under the bypass is also being expanded 10 feet as part of the trail, Oliver said.

Oliver said that the final pieces are the portion next to the Bainbridge-Decatur County Chamber of Commerce and the portion near the animal park that will connect to the existing Earle May Boat Basin trail.

The city is still in the process of acquiring a footbridge to go over the canal, connecting the trail.

The project is funded through a 2011 Georgia Department of Natural Resources grant to be used exclusively for the nature trail. The more-than $130,000 grant is funding the bridge, lighting and drainage structures.

The city is utilizing its own workers and prison crews to complete the project. Trees were not allowed to be moved; so several portions of the trail wind in between them.

The project is also a portion of the city’s long-term riverwalk plans and the Downtown Development Authority’s Downtown Masterplan.