A world-class bike park is planned for Westside Park in the city of Atlanta. Urbanize Atlanta reports that the Atlanta Beltline Partnership received an $8M pledge from the Chestnut Family Foundation which will help fund the $15M plan.
According to the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, “once the project is fully funded and out of design, the Bike Park at Westside Park will be one of the most unique and inclusive biking facilities in Atlanta, featuring 2.25 miles of mountain bike trails catering to various skill levels, a pump track, a bicycle playground, jump lines, a skills course, and hiking trails.”
Organizers are said to be looking toward Bentonville for inspiration, and concept images posted on the Beltline website feature photos of the Oz Castle trail hub in Arkansas as well as the new waterfall hub in Lincoln Parish Park, Louisiana.
According to the foundation, the bike park will occupy a 45-acre portion of Westside Park, where the site features approximately 100ft of elevation change from top to bottom, with the highest point sitting around 950ft above sea level. By way of comparison, the Oz Castle site in Bentonville boasts a nearly identical 100ft vertical drop.
In addition to the bike park and pump track, plans call for a trail hub and approximately 2.25mi of natural surface trails with difficulties ranging from beginner to intermediate. Officials hope to begin construction by the end of 2025, and at this point there’s no word on who will be involved in the trail construction. Officials say some of the biking and hiking trails were flagged in the spring of this year.
Westside Park, located about 3.5 miles from downtown as the crow flies, is billed as Atlanta’s largest greenspace. The former quarry site has been transformed into a vibrant park space over the past several years, with massive investments in infrastructure that include parking, play spaces, and bike connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods.
The Chestnut Family Foundation is no stranger to funding area mountain bike projects. In 2022, the foundation, headed by Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut and his wife Teresa, donated over a million dollars toward eight local trail systems. The last of those projects, managed by MTB Atlanta, wrapped construction earlier this year, and included the state’s first Velosolutions pump track at Allatoona Creek and more than 20 miles of new singletrack spread across the metro.
The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Foundation has also pledged a grant toward the construction of the Bike Park at Westside Park.
