The site of the former Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, for decades home to the Colorado State Rams, could see new life as an expansive bike park.
The historic stadium, which housed more than 32,000 seats, was demolished in 2018 after the university built a new $220 million on-campus facility. In the years since, various plans for how to repurpose the more than 161-acre site have been aired and often vigorously debated.
The most controversial plan for the site called for developing a mixed-use project with housing, commercial space, and a transit center. That proposal was shot down in 2021 by local voters who approved a measure calling for the site to be officially deemed open space.
Now a new effort is underway to transform a part of the site into what is being described as one of the largest bike parks in the state.
A group called the Fort Collins Bike Park Collective wants to set aside anywhere from 60 to 80 acres to build the park, noting that under the plan the vast majority of the site would remain open space.
The group has created a site saying that the construction of a new bike park would help alleviate congestion at other existing Fort Collins bike parks, while also expanding a “trail system with new options for all ability levels.”
While Fort Collins has long been a bike-friendly city with more than 200 miles of paved cycling paths and lanes, it does not have an abundance of bike parks for more concentrated use.
The project is in keeping with a larger national trend that is seeing such parks, usually featuring defined paths, ramps, pump tracks, jumps, and skills tracks with wooden features being built in both urban and suburban areas.
Noting the increase in such parks across the country, the Washington Post recently remarked that such facilities typically feature “jumps, raised bridges, and other constructed features,” including trails that allow for repetition.
The Fort Collins Bike Park Collective is currently trying to raise public awareness regarding the possibility of building a new bike park at the old Hughes Stadium site, with the hope of soon securing city approval.
That effort may be aided by a measure approved earlier this month by Fort Collins voters asking for a 0.5% sales tax to be applied to the construction and upkeep of parks within the city.
By Garry Boulard
