The Japanese Friendship Garden in downtown Phoenix is a place of serenity, meditation and peace for its visitors.

But that won’t be the case this summer, when construction will begin on a nearby highway tunnel. The project requires many trees, plants and shrubs to be excavated and removed from the garden.

At a community meeting Thursday at Burton Barr Central Library, employees of the Arizona Department of Transportation and the city of Phoenix met with about 50 city residents to explain the project.

“They’re taking out quite a bit,” said Kathy Nakagawa, a board member of the Japanese Friendship Garden who attended the meeting. “It’s a pretty devastating project with respect to the garden.”

The north side of the garden will be affected the most. Ten-foot trenches will be dug out after clearing a 20-foot long pathway. Most of the trees and shrubs within that 30-foot area will have to be taken out.

ADOT says there is water damage to the concrete and electrical system of the tunnel. There is also water collecting on top of the deck and dripping down onto cars underneath. The department plans to install new pipes and drainage near the edges of the tunnel decks.

The construction that affects the Japanese Friendship Garden will begin in late July. ADOT representatives say the completion of the work at the garden was made a priority.

“It’s our milestone to get that completed first,” said Chris Dusza, vice president of Civiltec Engineering Inc. and a project manager for the tunnel restoration project.

The ADOT team projects that the restoration project at the Japanese Friendship Garden will be done in late August.

The garden closes to the public from June through August but still operates for private parties and tours during the summer.

The garden, in addition to providing tranquility for day-to-day visitors, plays host to formal events like wedding ceremonies, photo sessions, memorials and corporate gatherings. The opportunity to book such events this summer is affected because a section of the garden will not be available.

“We have already lost a lot of revenue because of the construction plans,” said Nakagawa.

The Japanese Friendship Garden will get a full landscape restoration when the tunnel work is done.

Monica Baiza, an ADOT project manager, said the restoration project funding will be provided by ADOT to the city of Phoenix.

“It will take $300,000 of state funds for the landscape restoration, and we will cover the project 100 percent,” Baiza said in response to a crowd member’s question Thursday night.

ADOT and the city of Phoenix will begin work in late July on the Deck Park tunnel located on the Papago Freeway of I-10 under Margaret T. Hance Park.

The focus of the repairs are on Third Street and Third Avenue and north of Portland Street and south of Culver Street.

The ADOT communications relations team said the improvements to the system will be good for years down the road but could not guarantee there wouldn’t be any more work needed in the future for other parts of the tunnel, which could affect the garden again.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is not the only place impacted by the construction.

The annual Phoenix Oktoberfest festival has taken place at Hance Park for the past eight years. If the work continues through October, the event will be directly affected and most likely be forced to relocate.

“It will end in late fall. It’s hard to say tonight whether or not it will be completely done in that area,” said a member of ADOT’s communication relations team. “We can keep the city up to date as soon as we get that information but we’re not going to have that answer tonight.”

A city of Phoenix representative said they would talk next week with ADOT and Phoenix Oktoberfest to determine if it will be “too risky” to keep the event in its usual location. She mentioned if it seemed like they were cutting it close they would help them find an alternative location nearby.

Contact the reporter at Rick.Medeiros@asu.edu