Shovels are out at Dimond Bros Park

Image: Beginner track location in Dimond Bros Park.

We’re charging full speed ahead on plans to start building two new bike tracks in Dimond Bros Park, West Dapto.

We recently shared concept designs for the bike tracks with our community so locals could provide feedback on what works, what needed changing and what other ideas could be considered. The tracks will be made of dirt and are for BMX and mountain bike riders to use.

Now, we’re ready to start digging and begin building the advanced and beginner bike tracks. We’ve taken on board the advice from locals to inform the final design for the tracks.

“Soil will be arriving over the coming weeks as Council begins work to build the dirt bike tracks project. Depending on the weather, we expect to finish the build in about three weeks’ time,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.

“We know local knowledge is important, and that’s why we’ve listened to the people, especially young people, who will be riding and maintaining the dirt tracks into the future.

“Our community shared some great ideas on how to make it easier to get to the track, ways to improve the design so it’s more enjoyable, and how to make it convenient for people to stay there longer.”

One of the suggestions we received from our community was to make the bike track even bigger, with more technical elements that cater to experienced mountain bike riders.

“Council is actually working on a major mountain bike park at Cringila Hills right now. Once that project is finished, we’ll be able to unveil 11.5km of bike tracks for people of all skill levels,” Cr Bradbery said.

“The dirt bike tracks we’re building around our community, including those at the Dimond Bros Park, are designed to fit within local parks so that residents in our suburbs can enjoy biking facilities. Naturally these dirt tracks are a bit smaller to fit into these spaces without impacting on other community members who share the space for outdoor recreation and sports but we loved the feedback to widen the Advanced track to allow for people to pass and we’ve taken that on board in the final design.”

Read more in our media release: ‘Get pumped! Cringila Hills pump track tender approved’.

Some of the actions we’re taking based on your feedback…

• Our Traffic and Parking Team will monitor parking requirements at the park to see if further changes are needed.
• We’ll make changes to the final design of the Advanced Track, including making the return track wider and investigating whether we can add additional features to the return track.
• We’ll also look at including other design elements in the Beginner Track to offer more variety.
• We’ll plant more native trees in the park to increase shade options.
• We’ll install a sandstone barrier that will act as extra seating and also work as a safety feature.
• We’re investigating the possibility of installing a water bubbler in the park.