Brick Township bike and scooter enthusiasts will have a new facility in which to show off their best moves, following a vote by the township council to award a contract for new surfacing and equipment to replace aging equipment at an existing site.
The contract calls for the new park, which will feature curved loops and other equipment designed to help specialized foot-powered bikes and scooters perform tricks and other acrobatics. It will be located at the Drum Point Sports Complex, off Drum Point Road, where the township’s skate park had previously been located. When the township opened a new skate park across town at Bernie Cooke Memorial Park, its surface was specialized for skateboards only, leaving scooter and bike enthusiasts without access to the fresh, new facility.
A rendering of the bike and scooter park to be built in Brick Township, N.J. (Credit: Township of Brick)
|
|
A rendering of the bike and scooter park to be built in Brick Township, N.J. (Credit: Township of Brick)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The township’s answer was to take the old skate park at the sports complex, designate it as the bike and scooter park, and eventually upgrade it.
“We just got the drawing from the state contract vendor,” said township Business Administrator Joanne Bergin. “It took us a long time to find somebody, because we didn’t want to have an engineer design the entire thing – it’s mostly just a straight replacement of the type of material you need for bikes and scooters, which is different than skateboards.”
The township ultimately found a design that would fit – both physically and within budget – from a state cooperative vendor that is pre-designed and can simply be built without costly engineering studies and bespoke design elements.
A rendering of the bike and scooter park to be built in Brick Township, N.J. (Credit: Township of Brick)
A rendering of the bike and scooter park to be built in Brick Township, N.J. (Credit: Township of Brick)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
Brick Township’s current bike/scooter park, due to be replaced with new surfacing and equipment. (Photo: Shorebeat)
“Bikes and scooters were shut out from [Bernie Cooke], so we really wanted to create this place,” Bergin said. “We have the drawing, we awarded the contract tonight, and we don’t need a pre-construction meeting because it’s really a straight-drop replacement.”
Work on the new park is expected to proceed quickly.
“The construction can get started as soon as the paperwork comes back to us,” Bergin said.
The council unanimously voted in favor of awarding the $418,036 contract for the facility to American Ramp Company, of Joplin, Mo.
Brick Life
The Other Shoe
