Shoreline Restoration Project
Washington Park Arboretum Shoreline Restoration Completed The Shoreline Trail restoration project is now complete, and the area has once again been opened to the public. Anchor Environmental, L.L.C. was commissioned by the Seattle Department Parks and Recreation as the prime consultant for this waterfront park and habitat restoration project. Designed by the Olmsted Brothers Landscape Architects, the Washington Park Arboretum is one of the largest, and most loved, historic park holdings within the Seattle Parks system. The park’s shoreline is located on Lake Washington’s Union Bay and contains one of the largest and most significant wetlands on the lake. The area is critical habitat for federally listed species such as Chinook salmon and nesting bald eagles. This wetland is also part of a very popular canoe route, and has a heavily used pathway system along the 1,700 linear feet of shoreline. The general intent of the project was to restore the eroded shoreline as fish and wildlife habitat, while providing access and views for recreation. Access for the disabled was also an important aspect of the trail improvements, which include relocating and rebuilding pathways, and replacing a major pedestrian bridge to Foster Island. As a result, carefully located viewpoints and water access points are designed to focus human use in appropriate locations. Note: canoe landing is permitted at the newly-installed landing areas, but no boat launching of any kind is permitted at the Washington Park Arboretum. The habitat improvement component of the project is located on a former landfill and marsh. As a result, the design included structural elements and earthwork features that required geotechnical engineering analysis of a bridge as well as shoreline and pedestrian trail regrading. Anchor conducted a program of drilled borings and limited exploratory excavations to establish underlying soil types and their engineering characteristics relative to the planned construction. Anchor then determined appropriate pile types and embedment depths for bridge support, and evaluated the potential for re-use of excavated soils in construction of the re-graded paths. KPFF provided the civil/structural design for the project, including the new bridge. More information on the project can be found at: http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/maintenance/arboretum.htm This project is an element of the Washington Park Arboretum’s Master Plan, developed with public input by Seattle Parks and Recreation, the University of Washington, and the Arboretum Foundation, and approved by the Seattle City Council in 2001.
 |
|||||
|
|
|||||
