Fritz Hedges Waterway Park

Fritz Hedges Waterway Park transforms a degraded industrial site on the Portage Bay waterfront into a space that reconnects the University District to the water, celebrates the site’s rich cultural history, and incorporates a new salmon-friendly shoreline. The park is an iconic open space at the base of the University of Washington campus and offers a range of experiences within a compact area, providing places for social gatherings, informal play and recreation, light watercraft access, and contemplation. A meadow features a mix of native and climate-adapted grasses along with wildflowers once cultivated in the area, and timbers from the site’s old mill building were reused in unique features throughout the park. The park is the only public space on the 5-mile stretch of waterway with a fully naturalized shoreline.