Pedestrian tunnel to link two Green Valley parks

By Jeremy Twitchell

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 | 11:52 a.m.

Between plans to overhaul the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex and build the 100-acre Cornerstone Park, Henderson park planners are high on the future of recreation in Green Valley.

But planning the two major facilities so close to each other — on opposite sides of American Pacific Drive near Arroyo Grande Boulevard — posed a logistical challenge for planners seeking to provide safe pedestrian access between the facilities.

Planners found their answer in a related project of the Public Works Department, which was planning a flood channel beneath American Pacific to link the Cornerstone Park site to the detention basin in the sports complex.

By working with that project, Park Planner Patricia Ayala said, the city will be able to build an underground pedestrian tunnel between the two parks for a fraction of what such a project would normally cost.

"American Pacific is getting very busy, and a six-lane road and pedestrians don't go well together," Ayala said. "It's becoming increasingly difficult to cross that road, even at a crosswalk."

With a 160-foot tunnel beneath American Pacific, Ayala said, pedestrians will have a safe and easy access point between the two parks. The Parks and Recreation Department has worked with the Police Department and within federal design guidelines for the tunnel to ensure its safety, she said.

The tunnel will be well lit, straight, and have wide openings at each end to maximize visibility, she said.

"You're not going to have a big bend in the middle and be wondering what's on the other side," Ayala said.

The tunnel is part of an $11.4 million project that will renovate the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex and extend the Pittman Wash Trail, which runs west out of the complex. Other facets of the project include new sod and protective netting for the baseball and softball fields, a dog park and BMX track, a pedestrian footbridge over the Pittman Wash and a tournament plaza that is planned to serve as a central gathering place.

The project is funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows local municipalities to tap into the proceeds of federal land auctions for funding of parks and trails projects.

The tunnel, which will run beneath American Pacific near the Arroyo Grande Boulevard intersection, will connect with the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex on the north side to a trail on the south side that goes to the Cornerstone Park site via the Union Pacific Railroad Trail.

Cornerstone Park will be a 100-acre park on a former gravel pit, with a 40-acre lake that has formed in the former pit as its centerpiece. Like the Arroyo Grande Sports Complex project, Cornerstone Park has an $11.4 million price tag that is being funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act.

Cornerstone Park is on track to begin construction this summer and is expected to take about one year to complete, Ayala said.

Though Cornerstone Park is still more than a year from becoming reality, Ayala said, the tunnel is under construction now in order to match the Public Works timetable.

"We wanted to go at the same time to make sure that we're not tearing up the street twice," she said.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or [email protected].