City Walk Birmingham Provides a Unique Public Space
While I-59/20 Central Business District Interstate runs through Birmingham, Alabama, it’s what lies underneath that brings the entire community together.
When this interstate opened during the seventies, its bridges caused a longtime divisional rift between Birmingham’s Central Business District and neighborhoods in North Birmingham. Replacing the bridges necessitated a multi-faceted response four decades later to improve traffic flow and reconnect the city.
A series of planning meetings and public forums would give shape to what is now City Walk Birmingham. City Walk BHAM is a mile-long 31-acre public space within downtown Birmingham. This 10-block common area stretches across from 15th through 25th North Streets.
“One of the compromises — in order to keep the bridges in the same exact location without having to relocate them to a different area of Birmingham — was to build a public space underneath the interstate,” remembered Toni Dennis, City Walk BHAM’s director of public relations and community partnerships. “And the idea was to connect Birmingham back together, to connect the Central Business District to the northern side of the city.”
This $34 million project, with a master design plan engineered by BARGE Design Solutions, launched in 2014. With the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) at the helm, the project started off with a feasible study by REV Birmingham. REV Birmingham is a nonprofit focused on economic development, analyzing what could best be done with this area.
Community Input Shapes the Vision
The general public was informed about the project through City Walk BAM booths at pop-up events and public involvement meetings. In 2018, several of them occurred at Birmingham’s Boutwell Auditorium, where residents would review plans. Following the completion of construction of the bridge in 2019, construction began on City Walk BHAM. It officially opened in the summer of 2022.
It’s estimated that about 90 percent of input from what the Birmingham community wanted to see with this public space was included in its format.
“A lot of things were proposed, but when it came down to the final decision on the design, they chose the activities that were different that the public didn’t have access to,” said Dennis.
Those suggestions included incorporating a skate park. Designed by New Line Skate Parks and now operated by Action Park Alliance, the City Walk Skate Park is an over 58,000-square-foot-long skateable area. It includes a pump track, a street course, two large bowls, beginner bowls and quarter-pipe areas. Skaters can use the park for free, but they must check in and sign a liability waiver.
“It really, to me, shows that ALDOT and REV and everybody listened because that was just super important to this one group of people,” said Dennis. “We didn’t put basketball courts or soccer fields or anything like that in here because Birmingham already had quite a number of those.”
A Diverse Array of Activities and Amenities
Sectioned off into seven blocks, City Walk BHAM incorporates a mix of social, cultural and recreational sports amenities within their designated zones but also coinciding with each other. To start, there are 10 pickleball courts, a rotating public art exhibition space, and an adjacent 11,000-square-foot roller skating rink. David Baker Architects, with a satellite office in Birmingham, designed the visitor center and public restroom facilities.
A Civil Rights Story Zone tells the history of this era through signage showing images of critical figures and events. Much of this zone speaks of Birmingham’s own history. City Walk Birmingham is a short distance from the Birmingham Civil Rights District.
The City Walk Amphitheater, spanning over 10,000 square feet, features a built-in stage and a raised VIP area for special events. There’s also a Food Truck Plaza, where registered program participants have their respective spots.
Bier Garden/City Walk SOCIAL is for enjoying food and drink amid a performance stage, bistro and table seating, ping pong tables, bocce ball courts, swings, decorative lighting, and other spots to hang out in.
The Barkery is a membership-only, off-leash dog park. The park includes water features, play equipment and fenced-in areas for larger and smaller dogs. Along with paying a registration fee, members must vaccinate their dogs, spayed and neutered.
An inclusive destination playground highlights Alabama’s five physiographic regions — Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Alabama Ridge and Valley, Cumberland Plateau, and Highland Rim. The park interprets them through their respective play zones with unique physiographic features. Lake Park Lawn serves as more of a gathering space for visitors. The lawn frequently hosts concerts, tailgating or other outdoor happenings amid its natural turf sodding.
Enhancing this overall environment is the Bridge Lighting, which is another result of the interstate’s bridgework. This overhead LED ribbon lighting changes in color but functions to provide ambient and dynamic lighting.
More Than Just a Park: Events and Community Engagement
City Walk Birmingham also serves as an event site and advanced reservations are required. It can host a birthday party or family reunion, of course. However, the area also has welcomed happenings like the Porsche Club of America’s 2024 Porsche Parade. Its onsite staff, referred to as “ambassadors,” assist during daily business hours. Certain sections such as The Barkery and skate park have separate hours of operation.
As for visitation, Dennis notes that City Walk Birmingham is primarily a weekend destination but also finds people here during their lunch hour or after work. Students, too, come. A block of the district near the Alabama School of Fine Arts is equipped with two outdoor classrooms, which encourage local educational use.
Now in its second year, Dennis noted that City Walk Birmingham aims to keep growing. The hope is that public programming will evolve further and show what a public space like this can do. Birmingham welcomed the 2024 Main Street Now Conference in May, and attendees from all over saw this space firsthand.
“It caught a lot of attention, and I think people see the benefits of it,” said Dennis. “So, I think it’s a new concept that hopefully will be able to carry on and be put in some other cities as well.”
To learn more about City Walk Birmingham, visit citywalkbham.com.