Como Park Zoo Transportation Improvements

Our team collaborated with the City of Saint Paul, Como Zoo staff, Capitol Region Watershed District, KLJ Engineering, Morcon Construction and several other stakeholders to complete various site and transportation improvements at the Como Regional Park & Zoo, which receives over 4 million annual visitors as a premier MN destination. We provided the site analysis, civil engineering, landscape design, stormwater management, regulatory assistance, construction documents and construction administration services to complete these site improvements that include new walkways, parking lots, traffic signals, stormwater features and landscape beds. We also modified some roadways to improve the flows of pedestrian and vehicular traffic coming to and from the Zoo, and to provide better access to the Como Town amusement park. Throughout the project, we performed careful site analysis and design to help preserve several mature trees, which are important to the environment and the community. We began the site analysis in January 2015 and construction was completed in December 2015.

Project Overview

Client: City of St. Paul – Parks & Recreation Department
Location: St. Paul, MN
Services: Site Analysis, Stormwater Modeling, Civil Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Traffic Analysis & Design, Tree Preservation, Permitting & Regulatory Approvals, Construction Administration

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Challenges

Site contained several mature trees and old utilities, which limited the space available for the expanded parking lots and pedestrian connections.
The Zoo was to remain open during construction, which required our team to maintain a detailed schedule (updated daily) to ensure that all Zoo staff and visitors could safely get into and out of the zoo.

Solution and Results

We provided a comprehensive package of services including the site analysis, stormwater modeling, civil engineering, landscape architecture, traffic planning, regulatory assistance, bidding support and construction administration services to successfully complete this high priority project on time and within the approved budget. In summary, we designed a solution that enhanced the traffic flows, expanded the parking lots, improved pedestrian routes, increased the safety of vehicle/pedestrian traffic and preserved several mature trees.

Preserved several mature trees to enhance the landscaping and improve site aesthetics.
Designed resilient stormwater features to improve water quality, reduce flooding and increase infiltration.
Designed the grading plans to efficiently incorporate the walkways, expanded parking lots, a bus shelter and several gardens to provide multiple benefits.