For much of its recent history, the
portion of lateral 14.4 stretching south along the unpaved 31st Avenue
alignment from Missouri Avenue to Camelback Road exemplified the unmet public
potential of the Valley’s historic canal corridors. Hemmed in by graffiti-marred
block walls, the open ditch and dirt trail answered the utilitarian call of
providing maintenance access to the lateral, nothing more. The recently
completed Little Canyon Trail Public Art Project has changed that, transforming
the unsightly ½-mile corridor into a model for how even the smallest canal
segments can become beautiful public spaces and safe multi-modal routes.
Designed through a collaboration of artist Laurie Lundquist and landscape
architect Michael Tarek of the Sherman Group, the enhanced trail closed an
existing gap in the Phoenix’s on-street bicycle trail network and created new
canal-side destinations for the surrounding west Phoenix community. The new
seating areas, fencing, entry portals, durable path and shade trees have turned
the desolate, fragmented corridor into a new source of beauty and community
pride. The story is in the design details. The corridor’s formerly exposed
terrain now boasts nearly 100 shade trees, a 10-foot-wide path with a sinuous
pavement pattern, high-efficiency pedestrian-level LED lighting, ADA ramps, a
fence that traces a wavy line – like the flow of water – through the corridor,
a landscaped roundabout the Colter Street cul-de-sac, and round, steel entry
portals embellished with cotton-blossom patterns, in recognition of the farms
that once defined the area. These
enhancements balance the corridor’s need to assure ongoing maintenance of the
irrigation lateral with providing safe passage for bicyclists connecting to the
on-street bicycle trails south of Camelback Road and north of Missouri Avenue.
They also expand the trail’s function to provide shaded seating and gathering
spots for people wanting to sit and view the canal. This expansion of public purpose
both acknowledges the history of farming that the canal made possible, and the
modern urban desire to make more of the vital canal corridors that traverse our
Valley communities.
