Workers dig up the past for new urban park

Moving of cobblestones gets work rolling on Railroad Park
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writer

Birmingham crews are rummaging through the past as work begins to create the city's newest urban park.

Workers Tuesday begin excavating century-old cobblestone at the site of Railroad Park in preparation for construction. The old stones will be reused as pavers at the park, located between downtown Birmingham and UAB.

"This is the first real, tangible construction activity short of demolition of structures," said H.B. Brantley of Brantley Visioneering Inc., project manager for the park.

Construction of the park will begin in June and will last about a year, Brantley said.

The pavers running through the center of the park once composed Powell Avenue.

"We're going to store them at the Department of Public Works until we get ready to reuse them for the project," Brantley said.

Excavation will last more than a month.

"It's very exciting. It gives us a way to connect to the history of Birmingham," said Giles Perkins, president of the Railroad Park Foundation, formerly known as Friends of the Railroad Reservation Park.

The foundation will operate and maintain the 21-acre green space between 14th and 18th streets North once it's completed, under an agreement with the city.

Perkins' group has led private fundraising for the park. The $22 million first phase of the project consists of $12.5 million from the city and county and $10 million in private funds.

"It's a public-private partnership that's come together," Perkins said. "We still have money to raise, but we're very excited to be moving forward."

The linear park between downtown and the University of Alabama at Birmingham will be bordered by residential and commercial development.

Mayor Larry Langford in December pledged an additional $5 million to the Railroad Park to build an amphitheater if the Friends group raised an extra $5 million to match it.

"We are exploring the donor base, and we are optimistic we'll get there," Perkins said Tuesday.

The newly erected construction fence and presence of crews at the site sends a clear message that the city is serious about building the park, following years of planning and discussion, said Deborah Vance, Langford's chief of staff.

"There will be a lot more activity at the Railroad Park," Vance said. "We're beyond the pomp and circumstance. It's important for the investors - for the citizens of the community - to see real action happening at that site."

E-mail: jbryant@bhamnews.com