VIDALIA — The Vidalia Riverfront received a facelift Wednesday and Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had sent four barges loaded with rocks to the riverfront, and a crane on the barges moved rock from barge to riverbank.

During the historic high water last spring, in which the river crested at 56.97 feet and actually touched the Bryant O. Hammett Conference and Convention Center, the riverbank on the Vidalia side of the river suffered noticeable caving.

Some caving mitigation efforts using sandbags and high-density plastic sheeting were used during the high water event, but the river’s fast currents still etched rivulets into the bank during the flood.

The new rock on the riverbank is meant to significantly slow any more caving when water gets that high again.

“Basically, all they are doing is laying out some stone there to shore up the bank,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Information Officer Frank Whorley said.

The project is funded through the Corps and comes from monies that are designated for the preservation of banks of certain waterways where the infrastructure is threatened, Whorley said.

Vidalia officials met with the Corps last year to discuss the situation once the waters receded, Vidalia Riverfront Adminstrator H.L. Irvin said.

“They told us with our investment here they would help secure the bank,” he said.

“It will be a tremendous help when we have high water.”

The current rock project will extend from the boat ramp just south of the Mississippi River bridge to the fountain on the riverfront, but city officials hope to be able to expand the rocks.

“Hopefully, we can eventually put (rock) from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’ all along the riverfront,” Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

Each of the barges Thursday had 1,200 tons of rock on them apiece, Irvin said.