Calling all construction lookie-loos

As every schoolchild knows, it’s nearly impossible to walk by a construction site without stopping to peek through the fence and watch the hard hats and heavy equipment at work. Now county photographers are making it easy for the public to peer through a virtual fence and check out the progress of the Civic Park as it takes shape outside the county Hall of Administration.

New photos are being posted each month on the Civic Park website, which also includes construction updates, news about traffic detours and parking and renderings of what the project will look like when it’s scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2012.

The park, which broke ground last summer, is on schedule despite the record winter rains, says Dawn McDivitt, a capital projects manager in the county’s Chief Executive Office who’s been overseeing the building effort. “It was a huge challenge, and [the contractors] came to the table and have been very accommodating.

“I can’t say enough about how smoothly everything is going.”

Workers have wrapped up much of the demolition and now can begin the building phase.

When completed, the 12-acre park will provide a green oasis stretching from Grand Avenue at the Music Center to Spring Street at City Hall. The four-level park will feature amenities including performance lawns, ADA-accessible walkways, a community terrace area showcasing plants from around the world and a restored historic Arthur J. Will Memorial fountain, complete with a new wade-able membrane pool.

The county workforce, McDivitt says, has been “extremely patient and very inquisitive” about the park construction in their midst.

“Out of all of our capital projects, it is one of the most exciting things that’s been happening, having it in our own backyard.”

Posted 1/27/11