Project
Dorton Park
Funded by a Parks Bond, McAdams worked with The Dodd Studio and the City of Concord in North Carolina to revitalize and rehabilitate one of the City’s most beloved parks, Dorton Park. Generally, the park is bisected by Afton Run, a named stream and tributary to Coddle Creek within the Yadkin-Pee Dee watershed. Within the park boundary, Afton Run has over a six square mile, moderately developed drainage area exhibiting severe incision with nearly vertical banks. As part of the park renovations, the City desired to enhance Afton Run through restoring stable channel dimension based on regional curve and reference reach data, creation of a bankfull bench, slightly increasing sinuosity, and densely vegetating the stream banks and riparian areas with native plants with a vision to enhance the overall experience for park users.
- Location
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- Concord, NC
- Project Owner
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- City of Concord
- Project Size
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- 1,400 linear feet
- Teaming Partners
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- The Dodd Studio
- Services Leveraged
- Project Types

The project reach restored approximately 1,400 linear feet of Afton Run and another 250 linear feet of an Unnamed Tributary (UT). Both stream reaches navigated sanitary sewer crossings with long-term protection measures, such as grade control structures and encasements incorporated into the design. Other design constraints included adjacent park facilties (playgrounds, soccer fields, tennis courts, pedestrian bridges, greenways, etc.) and an 18-inch sanitary sewer main that parallels Afton Run throughout the project reach. The entire project area is located within Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulated floodplain and floodway, and McAdams performed hydraulic no-rise analysis and permitting of the proposed improvements. Overall, McAdams provided surveying, site evaluation, design, construction drawings, permitting, and bid administration support. Stream restoration construction has been completed and construction of the remaining park renovations is estimated in early Spring 2025. McAdams is providing frequent construction oversight of the stream restoration construction and also supporting the City with pay app review, participation in monthly progress meetings, and responding to request for information (RFI) on the stream restoration scope of work.
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