As the spring construction season gets underway, four new projects will bring Detroit's riverfront parks and greenways closer to fulfilling their vision than ever before.

The projects include the opening of Atwater Beach, a major new attraction along the RiverWalk, and the beginning of work to push the RiverWalk across the long-desolate Uniroyal industrial site near Belle Isle.

Those and other projects will bring Detroit's vision of a "bridge to bridge" recreational promenade, first announced many years ago by then-Mayor Coleman A. Young, several steps closer to fulfillment. And the city also plans to link the RiverWalk to neighborhoods north of East Jefferson Avenue with construction of another major greenway running roughly along Joseph Campau.

"This year we’re going to start seeing the culmination of a lot of things we’ve been wanting to do for decades," Mark Wallace, CEO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which builds and manages the RiverWalk, said last week in an interview.

"These are things that the community’s been asking us to do for a long time, and we’re really excited we can deliver on these promises."

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The four new projects include:

Atwater Beach

Opening in midsummer at a cost of $3.9 million, Atwater Beach will create a large sand-filled play area along with other amenities including a refreshment venue between Chene Park East and Stroh River Place. It replaces what had been initially picked for a new residential project but was converted to parkland at the request of residents. Atwater Beach is designed by Groundswell Design Group and Mannik and Smith architects.

Uniroyal site RiverWalk

At the Uniroyal site, the large former industrial site adjacent to the MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle, will see construction begin in the fall on the long-desired extension of the RiverWalk along the water's edge. It should open in 2020.

The $7-million project will see a two-tiered path, one for strollers and people who wish to sit on benches and watch the river, and one for bikers, joggers and others who prefer a brisker pace. Designers include Michel Desvigne and Mannik & Smith architects.

Riverfront Apartments boardwalk

At the Riverfront Apartments west of Joe Louis Arena, the conservancy will create a new boardwalk across what is now private property to link up the west riverfront RiverWalk with the central portion that now ends at Joe Louis. Detroit-based SmithGroup architects designed it.

Jos Campau Greenway

And work should begin on building out Jos Campau Greenway, a north-south pathway running connecting the RiverWalk with the residential communities to the north of East Jefferson, much as the popular Dequindre Cut does now.

Looking further out in time, construction could begin in 2020 on the planned 22-acre Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park on the west riverfront. The park is in the design and engineering phase and should be open around 2022.

Connecting communities to the riverfront

Connecting residential communities north of Jefferson Avenue to the riverfront has long been a goal of city planners. It's a big reason why the city installed traffic "calming" devices along East Jefferson last year including protected bicycle lanes. More calming devices, including some landscaped medians, are in planning.

Josh Elling, director of the nonprofit Jefferson East Inc., which promotes community development along Jefferson from downtown to the Grosse Pointe border, said the improved RiverWalk is essential to a vision of connecting residents of the east side to the riverfront.

"The calming of East Jefferson coupled with the new Jos Campau Greenway will create a new, safe connection point to link all Detroiters to their riverfront," Elling siad. "One of our primary goals is to support the reconstruction of East Jefferson to transform it from a wall of traffic to a corridor that makes it easier for residents, especially our seniors and young people, to make it to the great amenities along the Detroit RiverWalk,"

Wallace agreed.

"The Jos Campau Greenway will send a really tangible message to residents of the east side that they are welcome at the riverfront, they belong at the riverfront, we want to make it easier for them to get to the riverfront," he said.

Turning riverfront back into a recreation spot

Over the city's more than 300-year history, the riverfront served first as farmland, later a venue for industry and shipping, but for the past half-century or so has been envisioned as a place of recreation for Detroiters.

It's been a long time coming. Hart Plaza was built a half-century ago, and Mayor Coleman Young added a few small riverfront parks in the 1980s, including the Chene Park music theater now renamed for Aretha Franklin.

The first links of the RiverWalk itself were installed in the early 2000s, and the Riverfront Conservancy has been gradually building out the vision of a five-mile promenade from the Ambassador Bridge to the MacArthur Bridge as money allows.

Meanwhile, planning continues for new residential and commercial development in the blocks north of Atwater up to Jefferson. With the rapid rise of property values in the greater downtown in recent years, city planners view the east riverfront district as prime real estate, made all the more attractive by the nearby RiverWalk.

Although the four new projects this year may seem modest in themselves, their cumulative impact, combined with all the other work already done along the RiverWalk, can be profound.

"It’s exciting how much of an impact these spaces have," Wallace said. "And I also know that when we turn riverfront property into park space, no one’s ever going to turn it back into industrial.

"This will belong to the community forever, and they will be able to protect it and maintain it. It’s very exciting."

Contact John Gallagher at313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com.Follow him on Twitter@jgallagherfreep. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.