By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After months of spinning wheels, it appears that the bike park in Rudolph will be completed later this summer.
The bike park has been at a standstill since it was discovered that it was actually constructed in the right-of-way and required a zoning variance.
“This is an exciting step forward on the project,” Wood County Park District Director Chris Smalley said Tuesday during the monthly meeting of the park board.
The track will allow the park district to offer “cool, unique” programming, Smalley said.
Park board member Tom Myers thanked Smalley for getting all the players together and coming up with a solution to the zoning issue. PumpTrax has agreed to modify the design, and shift the track away from Rudolph Road, which was acceptable to Liberty Township zoning officials.
Construction could now be wrapped up by mid-August.
The pump track park will include 1,783 lineal feet of rolling hills and banked curves. The Rudolph Bike Park is adjacent to the 13.1-mile Slippery Elm Trail that runs between Bowling Green and North Baltimore.
The new bike park, designed by PumpTrax USA, is intended to attract new, younger patrons. It is designed for multiple skill levels, so it can be used by beginners to advanced mountain bikers.
Unlike regular bicyclers, who propel themselves by pedaling, pump bicyclers generate momentum by pumping with up and down body movements.
In a 2018 public survey with more than 2,000 Wood County respondents, 43.48% of people requested more bike trails and increased access, with 55% of those respondents requesting non-traditional biking opportunities.
In other biking business Tuesday, the park district approved a memorandum of understanding with Ottawa County Park District involving the extension of the North Coast Inland Trail. The goal is to bring the trail from Genoa in Ottawa County, to Millbury in Wood County.
“This just firms up our relationship,” Smalley said.
Efforts to get ODOT grant funding have been unsuccessful, but other grants and alternate funding is being sought to help with land acquisition, he said.
“This is a great positive, forward movement for bike trails in Wood County,” Smalley said.
Also at the meeting, Smalley said efforts are being made to improve the park district’s five ponds. An inventory is being made of the ponds’ characteristics and programming possibilities.
