Romtec and Romtec Utilities Join Together For a Strategic Approach to the Laughlin Park Project
The Laughlin Park project was a great opportunity for Romtec and Romtec Utilities combined, to demonstrate our respective fields of expertise. While the products from each company may differ, both companies supply important pieces of infrastructure around the nation.
Romtec specializes in building design and supply with the capability to provide standard and custom buildings at a competitive price to customers. Our offering includes restroom buildings, pavilions, shelters, multi-purpose buildings, equipment and control buildings, and so much more. We often supply buildings to municipalities for parks and recreational areas, providing amenities for the public as they enjoy their time outdoors.
Romtec Utilities projects are less visible to the public than Romtec’s public structures, but still play a crucial role in the function of our communities. Romtec Utilities engineers and supplies lift stations for storm, waste, and industrial applications. Romtec Utilities’ structures are a crucial part in keeping our communities functioning properly. Centered around water conveyance, Romtec Utilities helps to provide clean water where needed and pump all other water off to treatment or collection.
Combining Romtec and Romtec Utilities expertise provided a valuable resource to the Laughlin Park project and to the larger project it belongs to, The Colorado River Heritage Greenway Park and Trails Project.
The Laughlin Park project is just one of several pieces of the Colorado River Heritage Greenway Park and Trails Project. This portion of this project is in Laughlin, Nevada and consists of 9 miles of trails for walkers and cyclists, the Laughlin River walk, “fully developed” restrooms, picnic and park areas, and more for guests to get outside and connect with nature.
The park is family friendly, and features numerous places to picnic as well as playground areas for children. Several covered areas provide shade and places to relax along the river, and in addition to the day use areas, there are also opportunities for camping.
The Colorado River Heritage project is designed to link Laughlin with nearby trails and recreational areas, and protect the landscape for future generations to enjoy. With river and fishing access, trails, restrooms, and play structures, the Laughlin section of the Colorado River Heritage project has something for guests of all types.
For Laughlin Park, Romtec and Romtec Utilities coordinated with Clark County Public Works, TJK Consulting Engineers (Site Engineer), VTN Nevada (Reviewing Engineer), and PEEK Construction (General Contractor) to provide three site-specific buildings and two site-specific package lift stations.
The largest of the three Romtec structures was a Multi-Purpose Building with multi-stall men’s and women’s restrooms, a mechanical room, a simple concession stand, and a storage room. This multi-use structure has a unique appearance with a round barrel roof and angular stone veneer pillars on each of the four corners.
To match the restroom/concession structure, Romtec also supplied a smaller restroom building, with multi-user Men’s and Women’s restrooms, and a mechanical room between them. This restroom structure features the same barrel roof to create a feeling of unity between the structures, making them easily identifiable by guests of the park.
An additional maintenance building was supplied as well, in order to store tools and goods. Unlike the other two structures, this structure is private and not open to the public. To distinguish it from the public buildings, the maintenance building features a low angled single slope roof instead of the barrel roof. Design differences such as these are an easy way to distinguish between the buildings, and will visually allow guests to identify the structures.
Romtec Utilities also supplied multiple packages for this project. Two duplex, wastewater lift stations were configured by Romtec Utilities experts to meet the low flow, high head requirements for the park. The duplex lift stations feature grinder pumps which will macerate any solids that flow through the system, reducing the damage that can be caused by large solids and clogs in the lift stations and force mains.
To access the valves and force mains, valve vaults were also supplied for each lift station. These vaults are below grade and allow quick access to the valves for maintenance. Romtec Utilities has years of experience with installing valve vaults, and has the foresight to prevent problems before they even begin. One such problem with below grade valve vaults is the potential collection of water on the vault floor, which is solved by drains that drain back into the wet well.
The outdoor control panels are tied in to onsite generators for emergency backup power, ensuring that the lift station will be able to function even with a power outage. Safety precautions such as this, or such as redundancies in the system, are important when working with wastewater applications. Ensuring that the pumps have power to operate will prevent dangerous overflows.
Both Romtec and Romtec Utilities were able to use their expertise to provide the best structures/systems for this project. Romtec’s vast experience with restroom and park buildings allowed us to provide restrooms that will suit the needs of park guests, and fit in with the theme of the area. By being able to match existing buildings on the project, and engineer buildings with a barrel roof, Romtec was able to keep the look and feel of the area and create a clean and unified appearance throughout the park.
Romtec Utilities’ expertise gave them the knowledge they needed to design a system that will keep the area safe and clean in all scenarios. Wastewater in the water can be a health hazard, and with the lift stations so close to the river, it’s important to ensure that they will function properly and keep hazardous wastes under control. These lift stations also allowed for the restrooms to have a nearby outlet for their waste, and provided greater opportunity for plumbed restrooms along the trails.
The Laughlin Park project provides an important area for guests to get out and enjoy nature with friends and family. It creates a conservation area to protect the landscape and the river, and will preserve the area for years to come. It creates a large piece of public infrastructure that everyone can utilize and is a great investment into the community. Lastly, it connects to even more trails and areas in neighboring communities, creating a large network of outdoor recreation.