MORGANTOWN – After nearly five years in the starting blocks, Mylan Park is waving the checkered flag on construction of Mountaineer Bike Yard, a multi-acre, fully inclusive, USA BMX-sanctioned wheeled wonderland in the park’s upper section.
Anderson Excavating has been contracted to build the facility, which will cover about five acres behind the Peak Health Aquatic Center.
Mylan Park Foundation Executive Director Ron Justice said the all-in cost of the project is approximately $7 million.
“Anderson is on-site now. So, we’re planning for construction to be significantly completed by December of 2026, and plan to be fully open by the time bike season would start; like the first of March 2027,” Justice said.
The finished project will include a USA BMX sanctioned hard-surfaced track, a Union Cycliste Internationale competition-level hard-surfaced pump track, hard-surfaced progressive bike jump/flow lines and a mountain bike skills trail loop.
In addition to the necessary water, sewer and drainage infrastructure, Anderson Excavating will also construct restrooms, a registration building and shade structures as part of the project.
In terms of public knowledge, the project dates back to Nov. 3, 2021, when Justice announced that Mylan Park had emerged from a competitive nationwide selection process as the potential site of a new USA BMX facility.
It was touted as an opportunity to bring in the state’s first national-level competition track.
A short time later, inspired by the inclusive programs and amenities on offer from Mylan Park mainstays Pace Enterprises and Stepping Stones, the bike project braintrust, including USA BMX and Action Sports Design, broadened its vision.
“What we’re looking at is having the world’s first all-inclusive wheel park within Mylan Park,” Action Sports Design founder Michael McIntyre said at the time.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the construction project was held in September 2022 at a location in lower Mylan Park near where the Hope Gas Ice Pavilion sits today.
Some time later, the preferred location moved up the hill.
Because significant project funding, about $4.68 million, was coming by way of federal grant dollars being distributed by the state, the stakeholders had to go back to get the new site cleared, causing significant delays.
That clearance was finally provided in April 2024, allowing Mylan Park to move forward with project planning.
