Transitioning to Thoughts of Winter!
One of the challenges with this monthly update is to relate ongoing construction activity on site to the community inspired amenities developed for the park during the Imagine LaSalle visioning process. Above is a rendering produced by the park’s landscape architect firm MVVA showing future conditions looking west towards Lake Erie from the terminus of the newly placed pedestrian bridge. A light dusting of freshly fallen snow is broken up by families gearing up to ride down the new rolling Sled Hill.
Below is what that same view of what the Sled Hill looks like under construction as of this November. In this picture, we are looking east from the bottom of the hill up to the newly placed pedestrian bridge.
One might be thinking, “It doesn’t look very safe to sled down the hill with a large concrete box in the middle of it.” When complete the drainage structure will in fact be underground as over 20’ of soil will be placed to form the gently sloping Sled Hill. The large concrete boxes are underground drainage structures that function in collaboration with an extensive network of stormwater piping to move surface water off of paths and landscape eventually to Lake Erie.
The large white Styrofoam looking blocks are an engineered product called Tru-R Geofoam. Manufactured by Thermal Foams located up the road in Kenmore, this inert product plays a key role in the construction of Sled Hill, while simultaneously protecting a critical piece of the City of Buffalo’s water infrastructure.
The geofoam protects a 48’ water main that services South Buffalo as the pipe travels north to south through the length of the park from the Colonel Ward Pumping Station. Weighing in at a mere 2 pounds per cubic foot (as compared to 100+ pounds per cubic foot for soil), the function of the geofoam is twofold. The geofoam provides 15’ of vertical lift over the pipe while substantially lessening the amount of weight over the water pipe, preventing lateral movement or damage to the water main.
The collection of placed geofoam is comprised of a series of 994 blocks ranging in size from 1 x 2’x 2’ to 3’ x 4’ x 8’ and when fully stacked measure 14’ wide by 15’ tall and 400’ long. Below is an arial view showing the location of the placed geofoam in relation to the pedestrian bridge.
Shoreline and Plantings at the South End of Park
On the south end of the park, favorable weather conditions have allowed shoreline work to continue to advance north towards the amphitheater (pictured above). Similarly, dry weather in November couldn’t have been more conducive to the planting of over 200 native trees and dozens of native shrubs on the south end of the park.
Thank you for tuning in as we continue truckin’ along here on site and look forward to keeping you updated as the new year approaches!
Mark McGovern
Director of Park Operations
Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy
