The Ada/Eagle Sports Complex in Eagle, Idaho has found an innovative way to not only mitigate trail damage in wet weather conditions but also to reduce waste: Build a mountain bike trail out of repurposed concrete.
A new trail at the bike skills park is one-quarter mile in length and rated for “advanced beginners” with some intermediate features and built mostly from a repurposed concrete from the foundations of houses, barns, churches and other structures.
“It came to me wanting a more Moab feel in a line somewhere at the Ada/Eagle Sports Complex, and to be able to ride the trail in any weather,” according to the former City of Eagle Trail Coordinator, Steve Noyes. “Locating that much stone for cheap wouldn’t happen, but walking home one night I noticed some broken sidewalks…”
Noyes told the City’s Trail Lead Rob Hollerman about the idea, and he wrote up a request for proposal to open funding and bidding for contractors.
As it was coming into play, the City relocated a historical building and had to take out the old foundation, opening up an initial source for materials.
In their press release, The City of Eagle says the all-weather trail was built over the course of three years in small sections, “as time permitted and materials became available from multiple construction sites.”
The City of Eagle’s public information officer Dana Biberston told us that by the beginning of spring, some of their trails were unrideable due to ruts created by riders, which then caused more erosion. The City tries not to close all trails in the winter, as some are rideable in the morning, but soften as the day goes on.
The City likens the trail to rocky destinations like Moab, Utah and parts of Fruita, Colorado. The trail opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on February 13. The park does have space to add more alternate lines in the future, and they say they might use this method on other trails, but there aren’t plans to at the moment.
