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Riverside Park South, 59th Street to 72nd Street between the Hudson River and Riverside Blvd.

13:26 Dec 20 2012 Riverside Park, New York, NY, USA

Description

Riverside Park South is a waterfront park on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, running from West 59th Street to West 72nd Street. The first phase of the 7 seven phase park was completed in 2001. 4 phases, all waterfront construction are now complete. The waterfront treatment is mostly a new bulkhead with areas of rip rap edging. The park consists of curvilinear paved or decked paths running through either turf grass or areas of native or ornamental grasses.

Additional Data

Background: context, existing conditions:	.New parkland
Design Intent Details: why site was designed the way it was, general specifications, installation cost:	The park was designed on the site of a former railyard and the park design evokes the earlier history of the site. Most of the site is designed for passive recreation. The park includes waterfront seating and overlooks, a pier, lawns and native grass plantings to evoke the original Manhattan shoreline. Installation cost $20M-$30M
Impact of Sandy:	damage to rip rap edging. Erosion along the rip rap edge and undermining of aadjacent pavement. Possible damage to turf grass. 2 trees lost to storm damage. Storm inundation left a debris line along the length of the park.
Performance During and After Sandy:	.Good other that the rip rap treatment. Spartinas and other native grasses performed will.
Lessons Learned and Relevance to Future Design:	Refine rip rap edge design detail.
Site Use:	ex. park
Size:	acres
Area Flooded:	% of total acres - 5 acres
Edge Conditions: proportion of hard and soft edges, describe materials and observed erosion or resilience:	75% hard edge to 25% rip rap
Vegetation: % of site with vegetation, describe proportion of turf to dense vegetation, types of plantings and immediate observations on species resilience:	The plant palette of the park, grasses, rosa rugosa, bay berry, willows seem to be resistant to the salt water so far. The turf grass looks fine so far but we will continue to monitor the performance.
Storm Water Management Strategy: describe site drainage system and how this fared if inundated:	Catch basins and water sheeting into areas of landscape all performed well but the park was flooded from the river. The water receded leaving a significant amout of debris and sediment in the park.
Paving and Permeability: % paved, types of paving, permeability and observed impacts:	Other than park paths, 80% of the park is planted or stone screening. Materials all performed well.
Structures and Outdoor Furniture: describe types, materials, damage and resilience:	No damage to out door structures.
Total Estimated Cost of Damage:	$150,000 to reconstruct the rip rap edge if we lose all or a percentage of the park plant material the damage could be up to $1.3M.