Mapes Creek Restoration

Seattle Public Utilities. Seattle Parks and Recreation

The Lower Mapes Creek Restoration Project re-created roughly 400 feet of a historical creek in Beer Sheva Park. The project was a collaboration between Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) to provide critical Chinook salmon rearing habitat and an environmental amenity in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. SPU minimized community disruption and found efficiencies by completing the stream restoration project in combination with a separate project to reduce combined sewer overflows to Lake Washington. The combined cost for both projects was $6.4M and both projects were placed into service in late 2014. SPU also partnered with the Department of Arts & Culture to include two public art installations.SPU constructed two separate projects concurrently under a single construction contract: (1) 52nd Ave S CSO Reduction Project & (2) Lower Mapes Creek Restoration Project. The 52nd Ave S CSO Reduction Project constructed a new pipeline to convey peak flows of combined sewage to King County's pump station at S Henderson St & Seward Park Ave S. The Lower Mapes Creek Restoration Project installed a new pipeline along a parallel alignment to carry Mapes Creek, which originates in Kubota Gardens, to Beer Sheva Park. The creek was restored to a re-created stream channel within the park to provide high-quality fish refuge and rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon migrating to Puget Sound. Community benefits from the project include: a new environmental amenity (creek), improved water quality (reduction in combined sewer overflows), new public art within Beer Sheva Park and within the Mapes Creek Walkway, reconstructed Mapes Creek Walkway, and landscaping along the pipeline alignment. Project partners included SPR, Seattle Department of Arts & Culture, granting agencies King Conservation District and the Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office, and the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed Salmon Recovery Council.

Owner

  • Seattle Public Utilities
  • Seattle Parks and Recreation

Design Team

  • Confluence Environmental
  • MIG | SvR
  • HBB Landscape Architecture
  • Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
  • King Conservation District
  • WA Recreation & Conservation Office
  • Southeast Effective Development
  • Lake Washington Apartments

Artists

  • John Grade
  • Yegizaw Michael

Visit the Mapes Creek Restoration page for further information.

Seattle Design Commission

Address: 600 4th Avenue, 5th Floor, Seattle, WA, 98124
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 94788, Seattle, WA, 98124-7088
Phone: (206) 684-0435
sdc_administration@seattle.gov

The Seattle Design Commission advises the Mayor, City Council, and City departments on the design of capital improvements and other projects and policies that shape Seattle's public realm.