TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma residents have a new park to visit; the 55-acre Dune Peninsula park opened to the public July 6 after three years of construction.
Now there is a lawn for concerts, restrooms, a space that can be rented out for events and areas that give 180-degree views of Puget Sound.
The paved “Frank Herbert Trail” loop that links the park to Ruston Way Waterwalk will also open. Herbert was a Tacoma author of the best-selling, science fiction novel, “Dune.”
The park is connected to Ruston Way by a bridge that’s 605 feet long and 50 feet tall.
The bridge stretches above a new parking lot that has space for vehicles and boat trailers. There’s also a set of six slides next to the east end of the bridge for pedestrians to make the 50-feet long journey to the marina below (there’s also stairs for those who would prefer a more gradual descent).
The site of an ASARCO copper smelter, Metro Parks Tacoma moved 400,000 cubic yards of dirt and installed a geotextile cap over the contaminated land to create the new park. The copper smelter closed in 1985.
The park cost $74.8 million and construction started in June 2016 as part of the city’s plan to update the waterfront. The work was done by Atkinson Construction.
There will be a community event to celebrate the park in September.