Yellowstone National Cemetery Laurel, Montana

Peaks to Plains Design was the design lead for this new locally-funded veteran's cemetery on 48 acres. The cemetery has the burial capacity for 10,000 veterans and their spouses. The National Cemetery Administration (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) designated the site a "National Cemetery" on Memorial Day 2014, i.e., the government will own and operate it. Peaks to Plains Design worked with a veterans' steering committee, which assisted in design decisions. The work included coordinating land acquisition, comprehensive master planning, consulting with the FAA (the site is just west of the Laurel Municipal Airport), water rights acquisition, utilities, infrastructure, and military protocols for interment. Fundraising was through a countywide mill levy (property tax assessments). Phase-one construction (8 acres and $1.6 million in improvements) included a speaker's podium with power for a sound system, an assembly gathering area for 200 people, a flag assembly area and a flag disposal pit. A warming room was also constructed for the military honor guard. Infrastructure included an irrigation pump station, automated irrigation, landscaping, roads, fencing and stormwater facilities.

Metra Park

Peaks to Plains Design lead a design team for the construction of two ADA-compliant walkways connecting two parking areas to the Rimrock Auto Arena, one of three concurrent construction projects for the firm on the Metra Park campus. Funded with transportation enhancement dollars, the upper pedestrian walkway features a curved switchback that transverses a 32-foot elevation difference. Curved cast-in-place concrete walls and stacked sandstone boulder walls accommodate the grade breaks, while providing aesthetic contrast. Bollard and wall lighting was incorporated into the upper walkway. The contractor was challenged by tight working spaces while hammer-drilling sandstone bedrock. Handrails and guardrails provide safety and pedestrian access control. The lower walk is a simple "S" curve with multiple ramps. The firm did the project feasibility study, the recommendation of the project budget, environmental documentation, coordination with consultants and contractors and working with MetraPark staff to continue park operations during construction. The firm was also involved with the Arena reconstruction project, which required repair of the grounds from a June 2010 tornado, and provided input to the Bench Connector road project. The arena construction project won ENR's "Best Projects Award" in 2012.

West Rosebud, Montana, Fishing Access Improvements"?uWinner of the 2014 National Accessibility Award (U.S. Forest Service)

PPL Montana, which operates a hydroelectric dam in the West Rosebud drainage of the Beartooth Mountains, made recreational improvements around West Rosebud Lake. Peaks to Plains Design was hired to design and provide construction administration. The project included redevelopment of a boat launch; a regraveled parking lot and improvements to a second lot; graded and replacing old timber parking bumpers with local boulders; and open-celled pavers to allow growth of natural vegetation. The firm also engineered an accessible trail, routing it through grass and juniper cover, around a delineated wetland area, while nestling the trail around large field boulders. The trail ends at a custom-designed cantilevered fishing pier over a popular fishing hole.