Tempe Town Lake

Tempe Town Lake is a reservoir that occupies a portion of the currently dry riverbed of the Salt River as it passes through the city of Tempe, Arizona just north of Tempe Butte.

On July 20, 2010, a portion of the west side of the dam that contained the water in the lake collapsed sending a flood of water into the Salt River bed which drained the lake.

History

In March 1989, Tempe adopted the Rio Salado Master Plan which represented the culmination of more than 20 years of environmental land planning. Studies of water quality and usage, the Mill Avenue Bridges and ASU recreation ensued and programming began. A groundbreaking ceremony near Tempe Beach Park marked the beginning of construction of the river channelization. The Rio Salado Master Plan showed a Town Lake concept with a continuous body of water between the north and south shores. Previously, the lake concept included islands; this concept was modified to meet the flow capacity of the river channel.

In 1995, the City added more staff to the team dedicated to the Rio Salado project and began construction of a mile long bike path along the south bank of the river. The path features public art at a number of spots along the way. The city began the Town Lake design report and completed another financial capacity study and landscape designs for portions of the parks. The next year, the consultant completed construction drawings for the Tempe Town Lake and the City designated 800 acres (3.2 km²) of area including the lake as Rio Salado Park. On March 19, 1997, requests for bids were sent out for the lake construction. The city awarded contacts for construction of the lake on June 12, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held on August 8.

Tempe

Tempe can mean:

Places

See also

Lady Bird Lake

Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Downtown Austin, Texas, in the United States. It was created in 1960 by the construction of Longhorn Dam and is owned and operated by the City of Austin in cooperation with the Lower Colorado River Authority. The surface area of the lake is 416 acres (168 ha), and it is used primarily for flood control and recreation. Located on the lake's shoreline are various hotels and apartments, as well as the Auditorium Shores park and the Austin Hike and Bike Trail.

History

The reservoir was formed in 1960 by the construction of Longhorn Dam at its eastern boundary by the City of Austin. The western end of the lake is bounded by Tom Miller Dam, built in 1939. The lake was created for several reasons, including the need for a cooling pond for the Holly Street Power Plant, which operated from 1960 until 2007. The reservoir was also envisioned from the beginning as a recreational venue for the city.

By the 1970s, Town Lake and its shoreline had become neglected, polluted and overgrown with weeds. KTBC referred to the lake as an "eyesore." During his two terms in office (1971–75), the Mayor of Austin Roy Butler partnered with former United States First Lady Lady Bird Johnson to establish the Town Lake Beautification Committee with the purpose of transforming the Town Lake area into a usable recreation area. A system of hike and bike trails was built along the shoreline of the lake in the 1970s, establishing (what was then known as) Town Lake as a major recreational attraction for the city of Austin.

Papago Park

Papago Park /ˈpæpəɡoʊ/ is a municipal park of the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, USA. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride. It includes Hunt's Tomb, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Description

Papago Park is a hilly desert park covering 1200 acres in its Phoenix extent and 296 acres in its Tempe extent. Tempe refers to its section of the park specifically as Tempe Papago Park.

Papago Park is notable for its many distinctive geological formations and its wide variety of typical desert plants, including the giant saguaro cactus. The park also features the Desert Botanical Garden, a large zoo (the Phoenix Zoo), picnic areas, several small lakes, hiking trails, bicycle paths, a fire museum, and Hunt's Tomb, the pyramidal tomb of Arizona's first governor, George W. P. Hunt. Tempe Papago Park includes baseball and softball fields, picnic ramadas, a small lake, and other features. Rolling Hills Golf Course is within the park between its Phoenix and Tempe extremities.

Tempe Center for the Arts

Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) is a publicly owned performing and visual arts center in Tempe, Arizona.

About

The building was designed by Barton Myers Associates of Los Angeles and Architekton of Tempe. A citizens group, formed in 1998, spearheaded a ballot initiative to create an arts center. The resulting increase in the sales tax of .1% was used to fund seed money for the management, design, and construction of the facility.

A management firm (Kitchell CEM) was selected by the city government to oversee a three-phase design competition, leading to the selection of the design team in 2000. Following public input, the design was completed in 2003. Construction began in April 2004 and took 40 months. The Center was completed in August, 2007, with a grand opening on September 9, 2007.

The Center features a roof made of complex geometric folded plates. The roof is highly visible from the surrounding freeways and the man-made Tempe Town Lake, which occupies the natural watercourse of the Salt River, immediately adjacent to the site. It is also visible by many airplanes landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two miles west of the building.