Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Kiowa Engineering has worked as the Site Civil Engineering Firm on numerous projects at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in southwestern Colorado Springs. Projects that Kiowa Engineering has been a team member on include the Rocky Mountain Wild exhibit, the Elephant Barn, Encounter Africa exhibit, the Water’s Edge Africa exhibit, redesign of the Front Gate, the Edventure learning center, and the Grizzly Grill and Pizza with a View restaurants. The projects typically involved site design including grading, drainage and utilities.
The design of the latest exhibit, Water’s Edge Africa, was a new facility for Hippos, Penguins, and Primates that involves numerous visitor-friendly amenities. The project involved the demolition of the previous Hippo and Penguin House, relocation of and new utilities, storm drainage systems including providing on-site water quality facilities and rehabilitation of an existing detention basin facility, grading and erosion control design, design of accesses, walkways, and plazas. The design included working around an existing debris flow ditch and minimizing the amount of runoff from the site to the ditch.
The Elephant Barn project included extensive relocation of the existing water distribution system on the site including adding a 16-inch HDPE water main around the north and east sides of the project. The project also included a deep sanitary sewer line used to eliminate the need for grinder pumps for the sanitary sewer system and the associated maintenance requirements.
Rocky Mountain Wild included the design for a small impoundment called Moose Lake and the associated grading and piping for the lake. Rocky Mountain Wild included demolition of existing exhibits, reconstruction of the existing water and wastewater systems through the site along with sensitive grading of the site. The Edventure learning center and Pizza with a View projects were designed and constructed at the same time. Theses sites were confined by the Zoo infrastructure surrounding them, with the grading and utility design being dictated by the surrounding infrastructure.
The Zoo was constructed by Spencer Penrose in the 1920s and 30s leaving the existing utility systems on the property at or near their useful life. The projects constructed so far, have allowed the Zoo to update and upgrade the utility systems for the site.
Project Information
Location
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Client
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Services Provided
Civil Design of Public Infrastructure
Site Engineering
Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection Design
Erosion Control & Construction Stormwater Management
Construction Monitoring
