Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge

Fort Worth, TX

Expertise

  • Recreational

Services

  • civil engineering
  • land surveying

BHB provided the civil engineering for the rehabilitation of the Marsh Boardwalk at the Fort Worth Nature Center. This 0.25-mile-long wooden structure loops over a wetland habitat in the West Fork of the Trinity River. The design required the entire wooden structure to be removed and replaced with an enlarged footprint. A 2017 Topping Out award winner, the primary goal of the project was to redesign the walking trail to be handicap accessible. The work extended beyond the wooden bridge to the trailhead and required the construction of a pedestrian trail through the woods that connects both ends of the Boardwalk.

Photo Credit: Ralph Lauer

BHB also provided the surveying and civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering for the Broadview Park restoration project at the Fort Worth Nature Center. Broadview Park, located in an outdoor area next to the Nature Center’s Refuge Service Center, is the site of several buildings, a pavilion, a fountain, and a scenic overlook that were originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the 1930s.

Photo Credit: Ralph Lauer

In addition to the engineering required for the building renovations, BHB also provided the design for a new wedding pavilion and designed a linear parking lot that was designed with bio-swales and pervious paving. In order to honor the conservation goals of the Nature Center, BHB aligned the parking lot to preserve trees and provided bio swales that are designed to remove silt and pollution from the surface runoff water.

Photo Credit: Ralph Lauer

Key People

  • Trace Strevey, PE

  • Tom Kellogg, RLA

  • John Margotta, RPLS

  • Gibran Michel, DBIA, LEED AP