Good Things Come to Those Who Skate ... and Bike

Strap on your elbow pads: Austin's long-awaited BMX and skate park finally opens today, Thursday, June 16. Unlike the city's other, smaller action parks, this one is designed for use by bikers, skaters, and skateboarders alike. It features bowls, ramps, and jumps, plus the skateable Iron Wave designed by local artist Chris Levack. He also designed a trilobite-inspired area of shade designed to evoke the numerous fossils found in nearby Shoal Creek; both the wave and the arbor were commissioned through the city's Art in Public Places Program. The city had been planning for a large skate park for almost a decade, and voters backed the $1.7 million project as part of the 2006 bond package. However, it was only last year that the city settled on the location at the old, underused tennis courts across from the Austin Rec Center and House Park, at 12th Street & Shoal Creek Boulevard. (See "New 'Action' Park Rolls Closer to Reality," June 25, 2010.)