Dallas breaks ground Thursday on its first large-scale skateboarding park — seven years after the city approved the plans.
Why it matters: The $3.9 million project will help make Dallas a skateboarding oasis rather than the skating desert it currently is.
- The 45,600-square-feet in-ground concrete skate park will bring the sport back to Bachman Lake, which once drew Tony Hawk and other skaters from across the country in the 1980s for the “Clown Ramp.”
Driving the news: The Bachman park will be the city’s second skating facility. The current one — Lakeland Hills Skate Park — has modular surfaces for skating. Bachman will have planned concrete ramps.
- Lakeland Hills would get $1 million in skate park updates if voters approve the 2024 bond program in May.
Flashback: Voters approved bond funding for the Bachman skate park in 2017. Design plans were finalized in late 2021.
- The project is part of long-planned improvements to the northwest Dallas park. The lake has been dredged, a new aquatic center opened, and construction has begun to improve the trails.
By the numbers: The Dallas Parks and Recreation Department has recommended putting millions toward updating and adding skate parks as part of this year’s bond program.
- $1 million would go toward a new skating facility at Westmoreland Park in Oak Cliff. The design is expected to support BMX riding too.
- Plus, $1.5 million is proposed for building an “environmentally friendly parking lot” for the Bachman Lake skate park and aquatic center.
Yes, but: The city’s bond proposal still lists $500,000 in funding for a skate park at Glencoe Park, which was nixed in January, per the Lakewood Advocate. Skating advocates hope the money will be put toward a project at another Dallas park.
The big picture: Despite headlines bemoaning the end of skateboarding popularity, more people are participating than a decade ago. And skateboarding apparel and gear sales are expected to increase by $1 billion nationwide in the next decade.
Zoom in: Fort Worth, in comparison, boasts five public skate parks, including a 15,000-square-foot park that opened last year.
- Garland claims to have the state’s second-largest skate park, with roughly 48,500 square feet of skating area.
What’s next: The Bachman skate park is set to open by the end of the year.
