Thinking outside the box, city planners have designed and are
building, a
“linear” park along Butterfield Boulevard. Instead of ball
fields and picnic tables, this park sports landscaping along a
paved pathway in an effort to soften the acres of concrete a
four-lane arterial presents.
Thinking outside the box, city planners have designed and are building, a “linear” park along Butterfield Boulevard. Instead of ball fields and picnic tables, this park sports landscaping along a paved pathway in an effort to soften the acres of concrete a four-lane arterial presents.
The east side of Butterfield, between East Main and San Pedro avenues is getting the treatment with irrigated street trees and other greenery. Currently Butterfield ends at San Pedro Avenue but the city is working to extend it south to Tennant Avenue. Eventually the road will connect with Santa Teresa Blvd.
Chinese Hackberry will line the meandering pathway, with purple leaf plum trees near intersections, mulched to keep them comfortable and weed-free, according to Dave Gittleson, assistant engineer for Public Works.
“The purple plums will dress up the intersections,” Gittleson said.
The pedestrian pathway will be dotted with park benches and trash receptacles. Part of the plan is to “dress up” the sound wall behind houses between East Main and Diana avenues with vines and trees.
The $520,000 park is paid for by a $460,000 CalTrans T-21 transportation enhancement activities grant. Gittleson said the money works because the bid from RMT Landscape Contractors from San Leandro, the firm hired to do the work, came in below the original estimate.
“This doesn’t happen very often,” Gittleson said. “We may use the money to add some additional landscaping areas,” he said, “but they are not designed yet.”
Some federal funds, through CalTrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission were also used, Gittleson said.
Work is expected to be finished by October. The City’s Parks Master Plan calls for installing linear parks along all creeks and channels where possible.
