Landscape Architect Articles

LASN March 2016 Stewardship: Bijou Bike Park03-04-16 | Department

Bijou Bike Park
By Ben Fish, Design Workshop

Design Workshop donated pro bono design services for Bijou Bike Park in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. An entry plaza with signage greets users to the park. The sign was built by city staff, while the sign panels were donated by Heavenly Mountain Resort. The paver plaza was donated by a local landscape contractor, Tahoe Outdoor Living.
*Photos: David Clock*

Being involved in the local area mountain biking association, I saw the need for a community bike park. Eventually, this led to Design Workshop's pro bono design of Bijou Bike Park in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

The Bijou Bike Park started as an idea in 2011 by the newly formed nonprofit Tahoe Area Mountain Biking Association (TAMBA). At the time only about 30 public bike parks were built in the country; a major challenge was simply explaining to the community leaders what a bike park is and the potential benefits.

I'm a landscape architect with Design Workshop and current president of TAMBA. After meeting with city staff to discuss the project, I drew up the initial site plan then led the four year process of approvals and permitting. All the time and resources for design, permitting and approvals was donated by Design Workshop at a huge cost savings to the project.

This allowed South Lake Tahoe to focus funding on construction. The firm has a history steeped in the ski and summer resort industry, so following the passion of employees by working on bike parks is a natural evolution for the company.

The bike park sits light on the land, the sculpted dirt and wood features weave through the forest with only five trees removed during construction. Twenty prebuilt features are included in the park.

Consisting primarily of sculpted dirt and 20 prebuilt wood features, Bijou Bike Park blends in well with the forest and mountains, jumps, berms and rollers seamlessly flowing through the forest. Construction of the bike park took less than three months and was a true partnership between the city and TAMBA volunteers.

South Lake Tahoe redirected their road, maintenance and park workers to help build the park, completing all the major earth work and utility connections. In addition, Alex Fowler from Elite Trax was brought in as the professional builder on the job with previous experience building bike parks around the country and the most recent Olympic BMX tracks.

On a sunny September day last year hundreds of people patiently waited as a parade ran through the streets of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., celebrating the city's 50th Anniversary. Entire families wore helmets and held bikes in anticipation of the dedication and grand opening.

This is a new type of park however, one that is geared towards bicycles and riders of all ages and skills. Bijou Bike Park consists of a world class BMX track flanked by two pump tracks, three slopestyle jump lines and a perimeter loop trail located on five acres of land within an existing city park.