TOWN CREEK INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND – Auburn, AL
History
The City of Auburn’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Master Plan, adopted by City Council in May 2018, provides a 20-year plan to improve the quality of the City of Auburn’s parks, recreation, arts and cultural programming, library, greenspace/greenways, trails, facilities, landscape and natural features. The plan is being implemented in phases, with the Town Creek Inclusive Playground project being one of the projects completed.
Details
The Town Creek Inclusive Playground is a 60,000-plus-square-foot playground nestled between Wrights Mill Road and Camellia Drive at 430 Camellia Drive in Auburn, AL. The playground features parallel play components, fitness equipment, playground equipment, sensory components and more to provide an engaging and barrier-free experience for persons of all abilities and ages to enjoy. The playground is surfaced with poured rubber and ADA-compliant accessible turf, enabling those who use assistive devices to navigate all areas of the playground. The playground consists of five large playground pods, with more than thirty (30) play structures throughout. Features include a Gaga Ball Pit, a zip line, and a rock-climbing wall. Two pavilions and a restroom building complete the park, and the pavilions are available for reservations. Multiple shade structures throughout the playground offer protection from the sun, with benches scattered throughout.
- Use of good construction management techniques and completion of the project on schedule.
The project involved 2 separate contractors working together, a site work contractor and a playground surfacing/equipment contractor. The project was completed in a timely fashion, which was extraordinary, given national supply chain shortages.
- Safety performance and demonstrated awareness of the need for a good overall safety program for workers and the public during and after construction, where applicable.
The project involved construction of an accessible playground where the entire playground surface is synthetic turf or poured-in-place rubber. All interior and exterior sidewalks on the project meet ADA compliance. Two pavilions were constructed with the project, each containing accessible picnic tables. The restroom building has 2 family restrooms, in addition to the men’s and women’s restroom facilities. One of the family restrooms has a motorized changing table to assist with children and adults with special needs.
- Community relations as evidenced by efforts to minimize public inconvenience due to construction, safety precautions to protect public lives and property, provision of observation areas, guided tours, or other means of improving relations between agency and the public.
The location of the playground made the site completely visible from 2 roads and a nearby elementary school, where passers-by could view the construction progress. Safety fencing and signage were used to keep pedestrians and vehicles from entering the site during construction, as well as press releases to the public and nearby school.
- Demonstrated awareness for the need to protect the environment. This includes any special considerations given to particular environmental concerns raised during the course of the project, as well as climate change and/or resiliency components for long-term community benefit.
The project site was originally an overgrown kudzu field, but now has over 120 trees that were planted to surround the playground. The playground surface is permeable with a stone underdrain system underneath. The project has a small swale lined with river rock running through it, where an eroded natural swale sat originally. The project was designed with protecting an adjacent wetland in mind and is an extension of an existing passive park.
- Unusual accomplishments under adverse conditions including, but not limited to age or condition of the facility, adverse weather, soil or other site conditions over which there is no control.
The project was completed on time, which was extraordinary, given the specialty playground pieces being installed and the national supply chain issues. An accessible playground is defined as one that has 50% of the equipment and surfacing available for people with special needs. The Town Creek Inclusive Playground has 90% of the equipment and 100% of the surfacing meeting these criteria.
- Additional conditions deemed of importance to the public works agency, such as exceptional efforts to maintain quality control and, if value engineering is used, construction innovations as evidenced by time and/or money saving techniques developed and/or successfully utilized.
The playground was designed to keep the natural tiers and contours of the site as much as possible.
- Use of alternative materials, practices or funding that demonstrates a commitment to sustainability, climate change resiliency, and/or use of sustainable infrastructure rating system or the equivalent.
Most playground are constructed with sand, mulch, or grass used as the surface material, which can present challenges to patrons with special needs. The Town Creek Playground consists completely of concrete sidewalks, poured-in-place rubber surfacing, or synthetic turf surfacing. These materials were designed to be pervious with a stone underdrain system underneath.