Boise has a few places that could compete as the beating heart of the city, and Ann Morrison Park is one of them. The 153-acre park is the largest around, and has a little something for everyone, including river floaters, picnickers, frisbee golfers, soccer players, and dogs.
A new staircase will bring almost 2,000 households within a short walk of the park, and bring additional access between the Bench and downtown.
Stairway Expected to Open by Mid-September
At the southeastern corner of Ann Morrison Park by the baseball fields and just down the hill from large houses on the Crescent Rim, construction crews have cut through dense trees and bushes to make room for a large staircase.
By mid-September, 94 stairs will connect Peasley Street to the park. Next to the railing, a runnel will allow bicyclists to transport their bike up and down the 60+ foot Bench by foot.
The stairway was funded with $850,000 from the city’s Open Space and Clean Water levy from 2015. Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway said that the project has developed both on time and within the budget so far.
The stairway is essentially adapting a footpath that’s been used to navigate the hillside for decades, and creating a more accessible — although not wheelchair accessible — route for bikers and pedestrians.
A New 🚲 Route Downtown
Holloway said that responses from the Depot Bench community and Boise State University students living in the Lusk District have been “very supportive.”
Daily, the stairway could take hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians off of American Boulevard and Vista Avenue, the current routes up and down the bench on each side of Ann Morrison Park. That should make the roadways safer for everyone, and has given a somewhat unanticipated benefit for anyone trying to access not just the park, but downtown.
When we were originally thinking about it, it was like ‘This is a great connection for those that live up in the Depot Bench area to get safely down to Ann Morrison Park.’ We didn’t realize that it really became this two-way connection for everybody.
Doug Holloway, Boise Parks and Recreation Director
The map below shows three bicycling and pedestrian routes from the Depot Bench to Myrtle Street downtown. The blue routes on the left and right already exist, and take walkers and bikers on or beside busy roads. The middle route will be available after the Peasley Street Connection Stairway (in red) is complete, and will create a corridor from Peasley Street to Myrtle Street, via the Pioneer Pathway between River and Myrtle Streets, free of automobile traffic.
The new stairway could become a commuter route for Bench residents working downtown. (Google Maps)
