City and community leaders on Wednesday celebrated the completion of the “F” Street Tunnel Project under the Third Street railroad tracks.
The project grew out of the 2019 Streets Alive! outdoor movement festival. “Healthy cities are made up of healthy neighborhoods, ones that offer residents safe streets, walkability, and opportunities to be physically healthy,” Mayor Gaylor Baird says. “The tunnel improvements leave a lasting impact beyond the one-day festival that catalyzed the project, and they add to the vitality of the neighborhood.”
For many in the area, including students at Park Middle School, the tunnel offers one of the only safe passages under the train tracks, but it had fallen into disrepair. The project included the following improvements:
- Updated lighting makes the tunnel brighter and safer.
- The leaking ceiling was scraped, repainted, and sealed.
- The crumbing retaining walls were rebuilt.
- New accessible walkways and steps were added.
- The overgrown landscaping was replaced with full-sun, low-water plants. The South Salt Creek Community Organization is adopting the space through the Parks and Recreation Department and will maintain the new landscaping.
- Artist Micah Mullins created a mural to replace the faded one in the tunnel.