Site, Infrastructure, and Structural Design

THE PROJECT
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) initiated a comprehensive planning process to identify capital rehabilitation and improvement projects that should be undertaken in Niagara Falls State Park. This project involved extensive rehabilitation of aging features to improve safety, aesthetics, natural habitats, and accessibility for the park’s eight million annual visitors.

Erdman Anthony was selected to provide schematic design, design development, and bidding/construction document services for two of the first projects   under this program.

FEATURES/SOLUTIONS
Project features included:

• A temporary pipe and stone bridge to access the Three Sisters Islands was created upstream to deliver materials and equipment to the project sites so that the existing historic stone structures would be avoided completely.
• Asphalt paths were widened and replaced with slip-resistant stone pavers. 
• Concrete abutments on the pedestrian bridges were removed and replaced with a one-of-a-kind railing system that improves visibility, increases safety, and better complements the historical nature of the park. 
• Overgrown landscaping was replaced with thousands of new location-appropriate plantings. 
• Bus shelters were replaced with larger, safer structures featuring copper roofs, glass walls, lighting, and increased seating.
• New parking, ramps, paths, and access features.

IMPACTS
People with disabilities now have full access to the entire Three Sisters Islands chain the added access features.

The prototype railing became the standard installation for miles of new railing throughout the Niagara Reservation.

Maintaining the historic characteristics of the park’s original design also was an integral part of this project. 

Awards

2014 Gold Award

American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of New York

2015 Project of the Year Award

American Public Works Association, Western New York