PARK WATCH / Tucson, Arizona
Tucson Breaks Ground on Cushing Street Skate Park Under I-10
Cushing Street Skate Park is turning an underpass into a place to ride, meet and stay out of the sun.
WATCH THE UPDATE
A local report from the Cushing Street groundbreaking gives the project a little more texture than a construction notice can carry on its own.
The shade was already there. The use had to be imagined.
The usual instinct is to treat the space under a freeway as leftover. Tucson is doing the opposite. After years of advocacy and a long chain of public approvals, the City is building a skatepark beneath Interstate 10 at Cushing Street.
The project has its own kind of drama: permits, coordination with state and federal transportation agencies, utility work and the actual work of getting concrete into a hard urban site. Those layers are part of the story, not a footnote to it.
The project makes a convincing case for looking twice at the parts of a city that seem already spoken for. Underpass space can be loud, hot and easy to dismiss. In Tucson, the shade and central location have become the raw material for a public place with a different purpose.
UNDER THE I-10
Tucson says the 0.41-acre project is funded at $2.65 million through public money, tribal partnerships, local advocacy and community donations. Construction began in June and the City is posting regular progress updates.
WHERE THE RECORD LIVES
The City’s project page remains the primary reference for construction status, location and the public funding record. The video below adds a local report from the June groundbreaking, with the advocacy history behind the project.
For the current public record, start with City of Tucson’s Cushing Street Skate Park project page.
WATCH CUSHING STREET TAKE SHAPE.
The details will move as the project moves. Keep the City of Tucson’s Cushing Street Skate Park project page close for the next public update.