Another big chunk of Detroit's revitalized riverfront is taking shape this summer.
The State of Michigan is adding a 6-acre, $6-million piece to its Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor just east of Rivard on the waterfront. This latest work includes a wetland and native plants to illustrate what was here when the French founded Detroit in 1701.
When completed this fall, this new phase will add a 1,000-foot stretch to the city's RiverWalk, pushing the total RiverWalk coverage to about 3 miles of the riverfront.
Faye Alexander Nelson, president and chief executive of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which builds and operates the RiverWalk, called the addition to Tri-Centennial Park a "unique educational and recreational opportunity" for the city and its people.
"We're delighted," she said.
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See a map of current and future development in Detroit's Tri-Centennial Park.
Phase II plans
The planned 31-acre park will help plug a central gap in the city's 3 1/2 -mile RiverWalk promenade on the east side.
Unlike the rest of the RiverWalk, this new wetland phase will include a more natural look, said Bob Doyle, project manager for the Ann Arbor-based landscape design firm JJR.
Running about 1,000 feet along the waterfront, the new phase will feature walking paths winding through a created wetland planted with native grasses and other plants. Grasses will be left uncut to create a look similar to what the French found when they settled in Detroit in 1701.
"I think it'll be an interesting and dramatic element within the RiverWalk experience to go from this very urban plaza at the General Motors building and very sophisticated urban design of the Rivard Plaza in to something that's a little rougher around the edges," Doyle said.
In addition, the state park will include fishing piers, a storm-water conservation demonstration and other attractions.
Nelson said the new wetland exhibit will add another attraction to the growing RiverWalk experience.
"What it speaks to is progress," she said. "We are very delighted that this unique experience is being provided to the community."
The first phase of the state's Tri-Centennial Park opened in 2004 and incorporated the existing St. Aubin Marina for boaters. Doyle said workers hope to finish the wetland portion by late fall. That will still leave two more large chunks of the state park to be designed, paid for and built.
Meanwhile, Nelson said she hoped that construction could begin next year on a remaining portion of the RiverWalk near the current Mt. Elliott Park.
Extending the RiverWalk across the barren site known as Uniroyal will await an environmental cleanup there, Nelson said. But she said she was optimistic that a cleanup might begin next year.
Further into the future, the riverfront conservancy plans to extend the RiverWalk westward from downtown to the Ambassador Bridge and possibly beyond. When completed in several years, the RiverWalk could cover about 5 miles of waterfront -- land occupied by industrial uses for generations.
