REQUESTFORQUALIFICATI ONS Building a Tactical Revitalization ...

Sunbury Riverfront Park l
Sunbury, Pennsylvania
CLIENT
City of Sunbury, Pennsylvania
SERVICES
Planning
Urban Design
Landscape Architecture
Marine Engineering
SIZE
25 acres, 1.1 miles
COST
$10 million
COMPLETION DATE
2008
Sunbury River Park reunites a city to its
waterfront. With two flood protection
walls, a beautiful stone wall from the
1930s and a rather harsh 14 foot high
concrete wall from the 1950s, the city
is like a fortress and the Susquehanna
river its moat. To boost the Sunbury
economy and civic pride, the city must
reconnect to the water.
The challenge was to retain the flawless
flood protection but provide true connection
and programming for the waterfront.
Four openings with state-of-the-art flood
gates will be cut into the concrete wall.
These gates allow access to the new
river shore park, a riparian landscape,
with wildflower meadows and repaired
rivers edge, offering informal playing
fields, a river walk, a marina and an
amphitheater for cultural events in the
summer.
In addition the city fabric will be reconnected
to the river; each city street
ending at the floodwall will now end at
an overlook pavilion, beaconing people
to take a look at the views over the