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Right now, Central Park is a flat area of dirt with a canal running through it and a chain-link fence around it.

But come springtime, it's going to be different.

The canal will widen into a pool with a small waterfall. A path will run along the canal, north to south, and a covered bridge will cross the canal, connecting the Bakersfield Museum of Art, the main part of the park and the potential site of Bakersfield's federal courthouse.

"This is gonna turn out to be really cool when it's all done," said Don Hoggatt, the landscape architect who designed the park.

But before it's done, the city has a lot of work to do and a short time to get it done, said Jacques LaRochelle, the city's assistant public works director.

The Kern Island Canal will be shut down for three weeks beginning the weekend after Thanksgiving.

In that time, city crews will have to install a weir, put in two bridge abutments, and line the canal with a soil-and-cement mixture, LaRochelle said.

That could mean crews working overnight to get it done, he said.

"If we're behind and we need to get a light tree out here, we will."

When the canal reopens in mid-December, construction will stop for a Christmas break. In January, crews will return to install the bridge, walkways, benches and other amenities.

"When early spring rolls around, we'll be in a position to open this puppy up," LaRochelle said.

The weir is already being built in 14 pieces. Once the water stops flowing, the pieces will be lowered into the canal and assembled like an Erector set, he said.

The weir will back the canal up so water gets higher and spreads out into a pool, and there will be a continuous flow of water over the top.

"It's going to be really neat looking," he said.

But the pool won't be for swimming. A fence along the canal will make clear to visitors that this isn't a place to chase frogs.

The water in the canal will always be the same height, LaRochelle said, but because the canal has to deliver different amounts of water at different times, there will be an underwater gate that Kern Delta Water District staff will be able to open.

There also will be new traffic signals on 19th and 21st streets, stopping traffic to allow pedestrians to cross.

And the park will get new benches, new lamp posts and even new trash cans, all meant to suggest an "antique" theme. That theme will be carried on in the walkway down the canal, connecting the park with the Mill Creek South commercial and residential area just north of California Avenue.

"You'll be able to walk along the yellow brick road all the way to the library," Hoggatt said.

Monday, Nov 12 2007