Summer opening for bike tracks
"It's about kids getting out and doing something physical and good for their development." Karen Naylor
A final $95,000 grant from the Lion Foundation has cleared the way for Palmerston North’s junior road safety park to be built at the Victoria Esplanade.
More than three years ago, a group of parents asked the city council to provide a park where children could learn road rules away from traffic, and finally $350,000 for the project is in the bank.
Fundraiser and Pascal St Community trustee Karen Naylor said the old caretaker’s property would provide a beautiful environment for the little roading network close to the playground.
Just like the big people’s roads, the park will be constructed by roading contractor Higgins.
City council leisure assets planner Jason Pilkington said the park would include intersections with stop and give-way signs, a roundabout, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.
There would also be a connected pump track extending into an area of established trees.
Naylor said the goal was to create a facility that was both safe and fun.
‘‘It’s about kids getting out and doing something physical and good for their development, and teaching them what to do at intersections and learning road skills from an early age.’’
The facility will include seating and shelters, a bike station where tyres can be pumped up, and a shed where bikes donated by the Green Bike Trust can be stored.
Naylor said it was important that all children should be able to use the park and that those who did not have their own bikes would be able to borrow one.
She said the proximity of the Manawatu Riverside shared pathway would provide further offroad opportunities for children to practise their biking skills.
The park is expected to be finished by the end of September, depending on weather and ground conditions, ready for use in summer.
The city council provided the land and $100,000 for the project.
The Pascal St Community Trust worked in partnership with parents and the council to fundraise and apply for grants.