Five years of planning, three weeks of construction, La Grande’s new pump track is nearing completion
By Garrett Christensen on Thursday, October 24th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – After five years of planning and fundraising, and a relatively brief construction period kicking off at the start of October, La Grande’s new pump track will soon be open for public use. Located adjacent to the La Grande Skatepark in Pioneer Park, the new asphalt track will offer recreational space for youth and adults alike for cycling, skateboarding, rollerblading, roller-skating, and scootering.
Reflecting on the track’s imminent completion, Tyler Brooks, chairman of the Blue Mountain Single Track Trails Club board, told Elkhorn Media Group:
“It’s pretty unbelievable. The process started in 2019 when a couple single track club members brought the proposal to the board. I wasn’t on the board at the time, but I was at the meeting and everybody was unanimous that it was something that would be great for the community, especially for kids. It would give youth in the area another outdoor activity, with some exercise involved. That’s kind of the goal of the club, to try to spread recreation in Union County.”
As mentioned, planning and fundraising for the project initially started in 2019. The first round of fundraising was a simple $7,500 dollars to cover the cost of developing plans for the new track from a national firm. Asphalt was recommended by the firm due to its longevity and it not leaving seams in the surface compared to concrete. From there, full fundraising (largely through grants) began, though was heavily delayed during the pandemic. As further explained by Brooks:
“COVID threw a wrench in the plan for a couple years in the middle of the fundraising. A lot of grant cycles stopped during 2020, 2021, but we got the fundraising efforts back going early 2022 and got quite a few grants.”
Due to budget constraints at the time, the original designer, Velo Solutions, wasn’t selected for the actual construction. Instead, contractors Black Sage Dirt Works and Shire Built were brought on to handle construction. In total, the club fundraised just over $180,000 dollars, including a $75,000 dollar grant provided by the City of La Grande.
Brooks also made it clear that the pump track couldn’t have happened without the dedication of the club’s committee members. Aside from himself, these members are Jessica Hagedorn, Ron Osterloh, Sean Lerner, Nicole Howard and Chris Evans. As reflected by Brooks:
“We want to make sure to recognize all the people that made it happen. We had a committee that’s been pretty active in this for those five to six years. Our committee members are the ones that did most of the legwork and grant writing.”
The City of La Grande Parks and Recreation Department was likewise an instrumental component of the project getting done, providing time, personnel, equipment, and the property the track is built on. As Brooks put it, “the city has been bending over backwards.”
Construction on the track is expected to conclude this week (as of the time of writing), with asphalt work likely finishing up today. Some cleanup work may also continue through the month. Tentatively, a proper grand opening for the track may take place in the spring after additional landscaping work and signage installation is completed. In the meantime, however, the track will be open for public use once construction finishes this fall. For anyone still not excited about the track, Brooks described it best:
“It’s going to just be fun. It’s going to be a great addition to the community. Like we said, the goal from the get-go was to get kids introduced to bikes and just being outside more, making healthier choices, having hobbies and doing things that are healthier for their bodies and, hopefully, mental health as well.”
