Boise River Recreation Park Images: Left - Historically, the irrigator installed wood planks each year to develop the head necessary to divert the water right. Middle - Pete Lounsbury, PLS, conducts a bathymetric survey on a frozen Quinn's Pond near the BRRP. Right - Fully functional, the BRRP provides reliable irrigation deliveries and unique recreational opportunities.
Boise River Recreation Park, Boise, ID
Numerous diversions on the Boise River provide dependable irrigation water throughout the Treasure Valley. Facing increased urbanization, the delivery of irrigation water becomes more difficult with each passing year as access becomes more constrained and an increasing number of recreational users take to the River. Boise City, working in conjunction with The Friends of Parks, a non-profit fund raising organization, retained McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group (MWDG), Denver, CO, to design a modified irrigation facility that could also provide recreational benefits to the local community. Quadrant Consulting (QCI) was in turn retained by MWDG to provide local surveying and engineering services for the new park.
QCI provided base mapping utilizing conventional topographic surveying, bathymetric surveying of both the river and adjacent ponds using a single beam sonar connected to our Trimble R-8 rovers. We supplemented the field data with the results of the Bureau of Reclamation's 2007 Green LiDAR survey. For this project we were able to provide overall mapping that was utilized for the River Recreation Park, plus the design for the new Garden City Pedestrian bridge, Esther Simplot Park and a comprehensive 2-D model that supports a new hydraulic analysis of the area. We demonstrated the ability to generate significant amounts of data that was highly useable across a number of different users. Following major construction milestones, we provided topographic and bathymetric surveying to document construction of the new improvements, both above and below the water. QCI also provided survey control to support construction staking of the site.
As a part of the services we offered, a new diversion headwall was designed for the irrigation company, by QCI. This headwall was constructed in 2011, providing a reliable separation between the new recreational users and the irrigator's customary point of diversion and headgate delivery.
An upstream looking view of the new BRRP facility, minutes before the cofferdams were removed.
The Boise River Recreation Park was officially dedicated and opened in June 2012.