PS&E for Coal Creek Parkway Widening, City of Newcastle, WA

PS&E for Coal Creek Parkway WideningCTS’s project manager, Barry Knight, managed the design and PS&E preparation for the Phase 1 widening of the Coal Creek Parkway Project for the City of Newcastle. The design work for this TIB-funded project was completed during the period 1998 to 2001, and construction was completed in 2003. This 0.7-mile section of Coal Creek Parkway was a 2-lane roadway that has been widened to become a 4-lane divided roadway, with shoulders, curb and gutter, planter strip and sidewalk on each side.

CTS helped to develop the somewhat unique design concept for this project. This was to design the road as a true “Parkway” with a variable-width landscaped median and varying horizontal and vertical separation between the northbound and southbound roadways.

Property between Lake Boren and the road was acquired to minimize access concerns and permit the development of a new linear park connecting Lake Boren Park to the City Center. A new pedestrian/ bicycle trail was designed through this linear park, and most of the utilities were relocated in a utility trench below the trail, including undergrounding of overhead power lines.

Special features include simulated-stone guardwalls and decorative lighting poles. CTS also designed the interconnected traffic-signal system that included four new traffic signals.