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The City of Williamsport is getting pumped up for a new kind of bike park that is starting to take shape.
Mounds and piles of dirt can be seen from above Shaw Place Park in the east end of the city as the highly anticipated "pump track" for BMX bikes and other kinds of bicycles.
In May, City Council authorized the $650,000 contract with Artisan Concrete Services to construct Phase I of the project.
Pillar Design Studios Group, which has helped to design similar tracks throughout the U.S., is acting as the city consultant.
The work will bring an asphalt, and high-speed pump track with hills and high bank turns.
It includes all the earth work, and the storm water management improvements, said Bill Scott, city engineer.
It is called a pump track, a continuous, looping circuit of paved bumps (rollers) and banked turns (berms).
It gets its name from the "pumping" body motion used to ride a bike, with riders pushing down and pulling up over the features to generate momentum and move forward without having to pedal.
The track was funded through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, American Rescue Plan funds from Lycoming County and a match for the grant using Act 13 or natural gas impact fee funds from the city.
The second phase of the project is envisioned to be second track, which is an off-road skills course.