Community input sought for pump track at Hampton Watershed Trail

Published 11:51 am Friday, July 1, 2022

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Plans are in the works for a pump track, a part of the proposed expansion of the biking and hiking trails at the Hampton Watershed Park.
The City of Elizabethton, the Elizabethton Parks and Rec Department, the Carter County Parks and Rec Department, and the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA) are partnering together to make the expansion a reality.
It’s a project that’s been in the works since 2018, when the City of Elizabethton purchased a 78-acre piece of property above the current stacked-looped trail system.
Now, the community’s input is sought to help with some concepts and potential features of a proposed pump track, part of a skills area being constructed near the trail system entrance. Wesley Bradley of SORBA Tri-Cities said the proposed pump track would be double the size of the one at Tannery Knobs in Johnson City.
SORBA has been providing guidance on the improvements and has contracted with American Ramp Company & VeloSolutions for an asphalt pump track concepts design.
Bradley said American Ramp Company is a worldwide builder of pump tracks, and that should attract quality competition to the Hampton facility.
The pump track will be located in the proposed bike skills park at the Hampton Watershed Trails System, located adjacent to Second Avenue in Hampton. Because this is both a city and county project, Bradley is seeking input from the community.
Bradley said, “We want this proposed pump track to be a great community asset for bikes, boards, inline skates and scooters.  A high performance playground for everything with wheels! We also want to pay tribute to the area’s heritage of being a former manganese mine and timber harvesting site.
“Some overall design considerations came up in our initial kick-off meeting. We would like the community’s input to help us with some concepts and potential features that will help define the overall design of the proposed pump track.”
Local riders interested in using the future pump track who would like to provide input may access the survey site for the question and detailed information on the various choices. The online site is:https://forms.gle/5eatuuUhVmbYJvUw8
The deadline for returning the survey is July 5.

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