Construction at Confluence Park
May 25, 2010 § 8 Comments
Confluence Park plaza and fountain area under construction today
I was glad to see construction proceeding at Confluence Park today. In early 2008 construction started there, but then stopped in late 2008 or early 2009 when state bond funds were frozen. I don’t have much recent insider information on this project, so I’ll try to get more details and pass them along to our readers. What follows is basic information on where and what Confluence Park is.
Confluence Park is a project of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) – the state agency that’s been responsible for much of the wilderness parks in the Santa Monica Mountains and nearly all of the pocket parks along the Los Angeles River. They received project funding from the state park bond Prop 12, and also some federal transportation funding to make the area more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly.
The project celebrates the historic confluence of the Arroyo Seco and the Los Angeles River. This area was described in 1769 in what is the earliest written account of the Los Angeles area. That account is transcribed here – at bottom of post. The area today is also the confluence of the 5 Freeway and the 110 Freeway.
The Arroyo Seco enters the Los Angeles River just east of the 110 Freeway, adjacent to Avenue 19 (very close to the old Lincoln Heights Jail.) Confluence Park is expected to be built in phases on multiple parcels. The initial parcel, acquired in 2003, is located on the north-northwest corner of the intersection of North Figueroa Drive and San Fernando Road – adjacent to the Cypress Park Home Depot.
Early concept plan for Confluence Park - image from MRCA. Initial phase is the triangle in the upper left.
Above is an early MRCA plan for the park, which would extend from Home Depot to the far side of the Arroyo Seco channel. This would include relocating the city of Los Angeles’ ~2-acre street tree yard, located between Avenue 19 and San Fernando Road. In addition to the MRCA’s plans, the city is tearing down and rebuilding the Riverside-Figueroa Bridge, which lands in the park. Plans for that project (below) shape the park, including the bridge ending at a traffic circle at the Riverside/Figueroa/San Fernando intersection.
Riverside/Figueroa Bridge plan from L.A. City. Initial phase of Confluence Park is the triangle on the lower right.
The park’s initial triangular phase, under construction adjacent to Home Depot’s parking lot, is approximately a half-acre and will include a plaza area with a fountain. Below are a couple more photos taken through the chain-link construction fence this morning.
Confluence Park getting there
Another low quality shot of Confluence Park under construction
I will see if I can find more information regarding a timeline and when this new park will open.
L.A. Creek Freak 
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I was told at a meeting that the roundabout and new bridge will start construction in Oct this year. The roundabout will have public art from Greenmeme located in Cypress Park. I saw a model of the public art for the roundabout and was impressed. The art will be installed and built towards the end of the bridge reroute project with and completion date set for 2012.
thanks for the update, Chad!
I hope they have plans to make the LA River bike path continue uninterrupted (or at least as much as possible) on in to Cornfields and downtown LA without having to use surface streets. That would be a great and unique benefit for bikers, commuters and the LA River!
I agree… and it’s going to a struggle. and I will try to get to a post on that connection soon. The city’s current plans show the path crossing on the new Riverside Figueroa Bridge, but then transitioning to on-street bike lanes/routes into the Cornfields. River/bike advocates, including me, push for the actual path to be extended in the river right-of-way… but it does get pretty expensive to go over or under the railroad tracks downtown… more about this soon.
That is true…The tracks are a pickle. I would imagine the sensible thing to do would be to fold it all into the high speed rail project, which will be a massive reconfiguration of that whole area, but until then even a temporary path would be great.
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