Titlow Park. Tacoma resident Traci Richards enjoys the sunny weather as she swings 1-year-old daughter Kelsey at the playground at Titlow Park July 19. A creek, which runs underneath the park, will soon be â??daylightedâ?? as a new feature. (Photo by stac
A small creek runs through Titlow Park, located on the west end of Sixth Avenue, though no one can enjoy it because it is underground.
A new project, funded by the city of Tacoma, will bring Crystal Spring creek to the surface as part of a day-lighting project, according to Susan Hulbert, communications manager for Metro Parks Tacoma.
“Instead of running it in an underground tube or pipe, they’re going to make it so it’s exposed,” she explained.
A channel will be put in for the creek, which will transform it into a “little meandering creek with a rocky bottom,” Hulbert said.
She added that landscaping will be done around it as well, and a footbridge will be added too.
Tacoma City Council recently approved more than $985,000 for the project, and Lorna Mauren, project engineer for the city, said the contract went to William Dickinson Company, which is based in Tacoma.
She explained the original idea was to upgrade the storm sewer system to alleviate flooding on Titlow Road and Highway 16. Then Mauren said the opportunity to add the creek was proposed.
“The city determined that was a good thing and added it on to the project,” she noted.
Construction will start after Labor Day and extend through September and into the first part of October. Mauren said the contractor has 45 working days for completion.
The construction won’t disable usage too much, she noted. Though the parking lot alongside the pool will be closed, the park itself and the lodge will remain open.
Once complete, the 230-foot creek will be ‘daylighted’ after it crosses under Sixth Avenue, and it will curve around the east side of the tennis courts and flow into Titlow lagoon.
With the addition of the aboveground creek, Titlow Park will lose an estimated 17 parking stalls.
“There will be more park and less parking,” Mauren remarked.
The city of Tacoma is working in conjunction with Metro Parks Tacoma on this project, and Mauren noted West End Neighborhood Council is on board as well.
“They supported it and are pretty excited to do this work and get it done,” she said.
