Lake Arlington Park Improvements
Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) performed civil engineering and landscape architectural services on a large park renovation project for the Arlington Heights Park District at Lake Arlington. Lake Arlington is a 93-acre site with a 50-acre detention lake and 11 acres of wetlands.
The Arlington Heights Park District did a number of studies and gathered community input to evaluate the uses of the park and how it could be enhanced to better serve the community. After analyzing the findings, the District decided to pursue Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) grant funding to move the project forward.
Once park funding was secured, EEA worked closely with park district staff to design and refine the community’s vision for Lake Arlington Park. The park vision included improvements to the bike/pedestrian path system, pathway exercise stations, new picnic shelter, new fishing pier, a sensory garden, public pier extension, and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access improvements.
EEA designed the sensory garden, playground, exercise stations, fountain, picnic structure, and pathway. Inspiration for the projects was gathered by attending meetings and collecting design ideas which were later synthesized into a multi-generational park space to serve the community.
Maintaining access to and throughout the park during the construction process was a key consideration for all of the park enhancements. EEA helped keep the park accessible to the community by working with the design team, park district, and the general contractor using a phased construction approach centered around the park’s programming and activity schedule.