Pittsburgh’s only public adaptable playground coming to Squaw Valley Park

While many kids enjoy Pittsburgh’s public playgrounds, they can be daunting to children with disabilities. This is where an “adaptable” playground – a play space designed specifically with these children in mind – comes in, and there will soon be one of these unique play areas in one of Pittsburgh’s most loved public parks.

Plans are now underway for a complete renovation of the wooden playground in the back corner of O’Hara Township’s Squaw Valley Park (featured photo above). With the exception of the ladder structure in memory of Elijah Straw, the playground will be redesigned as the city’s only public play space for children with physical limitations, autism and sight impairment.

Some of the new adaptable components will include swings with supportive straps, transfer stations, ramps, interactive items for children with autism and Braille materials for children with sight impairment. In addition to these play elements, there will also be a new smooth surface more easily navigated in a wheelchair than the woodchips currently at the park.

Township Manager Julie Jakubec also adds that the new playground will be set up in a “one way in, one way out” layout. “Parents will be able to watch their kids from behind a low fence rather than having to surround the playground,” a layout that is designed to make it easier to keep an eye on children while they play.

Jakubec says the renovation will cost at least $300,000 with the new smooth surface accounting for a significant portion of the cost. “We are looking into grants and also at available general money from the township to fund the project,” Jakubec says. With some grant funding already in line, construction on the new playground is set to start this fall.

While these renovations are underway, the rest of Squaw Valley Park will remain open including the larger play area at the front of the park. The adaptable playground is expected to open in the spring of 2016.

“The Parks and Recreation Commission is very excited about this project,” says Jakubec. “Many playgrounds are handicap-accessible, but this new project will be a truly unique asset to Allegheny County.”

Featured photo: Current wooden playground at Squaw Valley Park, Photo by Nadine Champsi