Rebirth at River Bend
New Memorial Park and Roadway
Improvements for Historic Site

By Scott Blair

Two multi-faceted restoration projects are taking place concurrently north of the Rillito River and east of Dodge Boulevard in Tucson. The Brandi Fenton Memorial Park will take a 57-acre historic site and repurpose it into an innovative park, while right through the middle a separate construction project will widen and realign River Road from east of Campbell Avenue to the extension of Alvernon Way, east of Dodge Boulevard.

 

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Named for a 13-year old girl who lost her life in an automobile accident in 2003, the park will preserve an historic Mormon Agrarian community. "The proximity to the river is what first brought Mormon settlers, and then later the U.S. Military nearby," said project superintendent Mike Gilbert for Tucson, Ariz.-based Lloyd Construction.

The multi-layered history of the site is almost as complex as its planned uses.

"When we first got involved to help put together a master plan, the area residents were concerned about the changes in the River Road area, from a sleepy rural area to having a four-lane road going through it," said Phil Swaim, president of Swaim Associates LTD Architects AIA of Tucson. "We tried to involve them completely in the planning process, holding brainstorming workshops and building consensus for the park."

Swaim Associates created the master site plan in partnership with McGann & Associates Landscape Architects, also of Tucson.

The $6 million park will establish the only equestrian center in the region and will offer dog runs, armadas and a community garden with a farmer's market. >>

"There's a children's playground, soccer fields and basketball courts which are more typical of a large park," said Tim Smith, project manager with Swaim Associates. "But there are also unique features such as a splash park - a 60-ft. diameter concrete feature with different kinds of spray heads, fountains and water guns with recirculating water."

With so much history, it was important to work out what the design team had to work with at the site, and to decide what each existing structure could be used for, Smith said.

Numerous barns, corrals and historic houses are sprinkled throughout the site. Some of the houses were built before the 1900's, and many have had multiple additions and renovations throughout the years, adding to the complexity of renovation.

"The biggest challenge was dealing with the existing historical fabric and not losing it," Smith said. "Each building has to be brought up to the commercial building standards of today and made safe. We also have to meet handicap accessibility in houses that were definitely not designed for that, without destroying the character of the house."

Due to the many modern uses of the park, such as interpretive centers and contemporary agriculture, some new structures need to be built. "It's about half new and half renovation," Gilbert said. "We are building new armadas, but made to look old, but using old telephone poles as the structural elements to blend with the existing historical nature of the property."

Plans also call for extensive re-vegetation including the re-establishment of historic orchards throughout the park. Care had to be taken to preserve the original landscape, however, since the site was recently designated the county's first rural historical site, according to Swaim.

"We only used elements that would preserve the regular grid of existing irrigation canals and fence lines," Swaim said. "That is why there are no baseball diamonds in the park. We also had to ensure that the civil engineers didn't re-grade the entire property."

The park is intended to honor Brandi and other children who have lost their lives in the area. "For the memorial garden at the heart of the project next to the visitor's center, we went through a lot of iterations to find something that worked because it's a more contemporary garden," Smith said. "It is important to acknowledge what's new on the site without conflicting with the historic."

The two-mile River Road improvement project is taking shape right through the middle of the park. The $16.2 million project was divided into two phases: Project A encompassed the area west of the park and was designed by Castro Engineering and MMLA.

Project B included the intersection of Alvernon Way and River Road, as well as a new bridge over the Rillito River. The design team on this phase was HDR/Johnson Brittain.

The general contractor on both phases was The Ashton Company, Inc. of Tucson, Ariz.

"We keep at least two lanes moving in both directions at all times and in some places the requirements are three lanes, all night and all day," said Brian Andrews, project manager for The Ashton Company. "Flaggers are staffed here due to the heavy traffic, but manpower has been a challenge with the brisk economy."

The main roadway will consist of two through lanes in each direction with paved shoulders.

The project design retains the rural flavor of the surrounding park. "A lot of sections won't be curbed," Andrews said. "They've got headers and the asphalt will be flush with the top of the adjacent shoulders and medians. There will be signals and lighting at intersections, but not street lights per se."

As with many road jobs, cement shortages have occurred on the project. "It has affected the schedule depending on whether or not we can get ready-mix concrete," said Eric Ruder, project superintendent for The Ashton Company. "We've had some instances where we'd have to choose which part of the project we were going to do depending on what the suppliers can deliver. Other than that the project has gone very well."

The contractor planned ahead to avoid PVC pipe shortages by ordering the entire supply in advance.

The project features extensive landscape plantings and pathways, performed by local subcontractor Desert Glen, Inc.

Local artists decorated several retaining walls by imbedding crushed glass and stone into colored shotcrete to make the walls more interesting, according to Andrews. The retaining walls were stabilized with soil nails drilled horizontally into the slope before the shotcrete was sprayed on.

Drainage improvements include increased channel capacity, construction of a new box culvert and a new outfall channel for Camino Real Wash and other smaller drainages that currently cross River Road.

The project also involves construction of a new bridge over the Rillito River. The Alvernon Bridge is over 462-ft. long and has two travel lanes and a shoulder on each side of a 12-ft. raised concrete median. 36, AASHTO Type V girders were precast by Royden Construction of Phoenix, Ariz. for the 86-ft. wide deck.

Key Players

The Brandi Fenton Memorial Park

Owner: Pima County
General Contractor: Lloyd Construction
Architect: Swaim Associates LTD Architects AIA
Landscape Architect: McGann & Associates Landscape Architects
Electrical Contractor: KLS Electric
Mechanical Contractor: Excel Mechanical
Concrete: Prairie Concrete
Landscape Contractor: The Groundskeeper

River Road Improvement

Owner: Pima County
General Contractor: The Ashton Company
Engineers: Castro Engineering; MMLA; HDR; Johnson Brittain
Pre-Cast Concrete: Royden Construction Co.
Landscape Contractor: Desert Glen, Inc.

 
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