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cement bike-only bikeparks

cmc

Turbo Monkey
Nov 17, 2006
2,052
6
austin
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austins-new-30-000-square-foot-skate-park-1542495.html?cxtype=rss_ece_frontpage

Austin's new 30,000-square-foot skate park opens today

A concrete plaza filled with ramps, stairs, rails, a half-pipe and what looks like an empty swimming pool will open its doors to skateboarders and bicyclists today.

Besides more than a dozen obstacles constructed for riding, jumping and launching, the Austin BMX & Skate Park includes restrooms, water fountains and public art. It was built with $1.7 million in bond money approved by voters in 2006.

Skateboarders and BMX bicyclists — who ride small, maneuverable bikes designed for spinning and doing tricks — have been lobbying for such a park for more than a decade.


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cmc

Turbo Monkey
Nov 17, 2006
2,052
6
austin
http://espn.go.com/action/blog?post=6673610&sport=bmx&type=blogEntry


Austin BMX and Skate Park opens
June, 17, 2011 By Richard Whittaker






Not everything in Austin, Texas is barbecue and Willie Nelson. After a decade of delay, the city finally opened its first downtown action sports park on Thursday,and not even the sweltering 100 degree plus weather could discourage the several hundred eager riders lining up to try out the new facility.


On June 16, before a crowd of several hundred eager locals, Austin City Mayor Lee Leffingwell cut the ribbon on the Austin BMX and Skate Park, a 30,000 square foot cement and marble facility open to BMXers, inline skaters and skateboarders. Designed by Canada's New Line Skate Park and constructed by Prism Development and California Skateparks, the open air public facility includes a multi-limbed bowl, grind boxes and rails, and a half pipe. A skateable iron ramp, nicknamed 'Iron Wave' by artist Chris Levack, was funded out of the city's innovative Art in Public Spaces program. Council member and bike enthusiast Chris Riley joked that "The mayor and I were making plans to be out there this weekend with our boards," but was a little more serious when he said it "Celebrates the best things about living in the central city."




For a city with a pop culture reputation like Austin, the skate and BMX communities have historically been poorly served. 9th street trails, which have been around for two decades recently sparked a low-simmering war with the Parks and Recreation Department. Rather than demolish them, the city finally embraced them since the land is built on a flood plain, and have also recently installed a water faucet for trail upkeep in these triple digit summers. When city staff started looking a permanent and purpose-built downtown park, the nearness of the trails to what had been a bunch of disused tennis courts made the site selection a no-brainer.

A solid cadre of local veterans Like Joe Rich, Chase Hawk and Mike Esparza gave the park a real workout. The local talk was about how it compared to the smaller micro-parks the city of Austin has built over the last few years, most of which are skate only. When the city finally approved the site in 2010, the decision was made to create a facility that everyone could share. The first step from the Parks and Recreation Department was to reach out to leading lights of the two communities, like T1's Joe Rich and Laurie Pevey of local skate store Tekgnar. After so long without a real facility, the urge to share lead to a mix of innovative design solutions and some simple rules (expect the local bike stores to do a roaring trade in plastic pegs and pedals. Someone in the crowd around the bowl yelled "Skaters, out of the pool," but so far the cohabitation is running pretty smoothly.
 
Sep 6, 2011
26
0
Poor Tortured, WA
The Seattle Center skatepark has one of those cool glass wall ride things, but it's made out of some crazy ass glass. Actually, the Seattle park looks a lot like the one in the pic here.