A Collective Vision For Missoula's Downtown Riverside Parks

The plan includes updated designs for Caras, East Caras, Bess Reed, Kiwanis, Downtown Lions Parks, and Ron's River Trail.

The vision for these parks came from Missoulians and resulted from more than a year of public outreach, stakeholder meetings, surveys, and design work. The plan strives to update and enhance the parks with multi-use spaces and year-round activities, create better trail connections and gateways, update materials and landscaping, and ensure enhancements to the riverfront respect natural processes while providing better access for everyone.

Project partners continue to advance components of the North Riverside Parks and Trails Master Plan. Below are updates on specific plan components:

Caras Park River Access - Opening Spring, 2025

Enhancing accessibility and environmental sustainability in Caras Park

The City of Missoula launched the Caras Park river access project at Brennan's Wave, a key component of the North Riverside Parks and Trails Master Plan, in September 2024. The project is designed to improve accessibility, enhance viewing capacity, and promote environmental sustainability along the Clark Fork River. Construction will continue through December, with completion expected in spring 2025, weather permitting.

Ron's River Trail will be closed from Beartracks Bridge to the Carousel during construction, including the overlook and access from Caras Park to Brennan's Wave. While no work will occur within the river and Brennan's Wave will remain open, river users are advised to exercise caution near construction areas.

Additional Phase 1 components include under the Beartracks bridge on the south bank, Toole Park, and Madison Street north bank access points, and restoration of the south bank between Higgins and Madison streets.

More Information here: https://www.engagemissoula.com/clark-fork-river-restoration-access-project

Beartracks Underbridge Playground

Phase 1 is Complete!
Initial improvements to the Beartracks Underbridge include ground painting, a basketball court, table tennis, cornhole and picnic tables. The new underbridge playground is now open, rain or shine!

BEFORE

AFTER

Missoula Downtown Foundation and Parks and Recreation are now working on Phase II of the underbridge playground: Bridge Pillar painting and colorful lighting! Stay tuned.

Downtown SAM Improvements

The Downtown SAM project includes major improvements to Ron's River Trail from Front Street into Kiwanis Park and an ADA-accessible ramp from the east side of Beartracks Bridge to East Caras Park.

Ron's River Trail will be widened to 18 feet, following the pattern established in Caras Park. This wider trail will follow the river from just east of Orange Street Bridge all the way to Levasseur Street in Bess Reed Park, completing the "riverfront promenade" through Caras, East Caras, and Bess Reed Parks, as imagined in the North Riverside Parks and Trails Plan. This promenade will significantly increase the capacity, functionality, and accessibility of the riverfront trail system.

The ADA ramp from Beartracks Bridge will provide a critical accessible route into riverfront parks from downtown. This ramp is envisioned as not just an ADA access but a primary entrance to the parks that will offer expansive views of the parks, the river, and downtown, enhancing everyone's visitor experience, whether on foot, on a bike, or in a wheelchair.

The Downtown SAM project also includes the park gateway entrances at Ryman and Pattee Streets and Kiwanis Park.

Project D.R.A.W
Downtown Riverside Art Walls

The Downtown Riverside Art Walls project, or Project DRAW, intends to surround the Northwestern Energy downtown electric substation with a culturally significant series of art murals celebrating Montana's Indigenous tribes and cultures. It will also allow residents and visitors to learn more about Native Americans' rich and diverse cultural heritage.

The North Riverside Parks and Trails Master Plan envisioned installing an art mural and native landscaping surrounding the downtown substation to create a more visually appealing scene without interfering with the operation of this important utility. The proposed murals would also tie into the interpretive signage of the Downtown Heritage Plan and answer the call for “big art” from the 2019 Downtown Master Plan to further brand Missoula as a mural-rich city of art.

Project partners continue to advance the project, with the installation of phase 1 along Pattee Street (image below) expected in late 2024.

Caras Park Phase 1 is Complete!

Phase 1 improvements to Caras Park included a reconstructed amphitheater with more flexibility and increased capacity, a wider Ron's River trail, an improved multi-purpose lawn, and updated electrical, lighting, and circulation. Hidden under the new park is a new stormwater infiltration gallery designed to reduce runoff water and pollutants entering the Clark Fork River.

These improvements represent a significant investment by the private sector (Downtown Missoula Partnership) and the City of Missoula, highlighting the value of public-private partnerships.

The plan is the work of the Downtown Missoula Partnership, Missoula Parks & Recreation, Dover, Kohl & Partners, IMEG, and Jennie Meinershagen, Landscape Architect.

The final plan was adopted in 2020 by the City Council and was endorsed or adopted by the following organizations:

THE PLANS

NearTerm Plan	Long Term Plan
Kiwanis Park	Downtown Lions Park
Ron's River Trail	Design Report (best viewed as a 2-page spread in a PDF viewer)