Photo by Frank Couch.
OMSP
Oak Mountain State Park is partnering with Shelby County to add bicycle lanes from the north trailhead to the back gate.
Even with the recent cuts to the state park system budget, Oak Mountain State Park still has plans for improvements for 2016.
One of the projects, which has already started, is adding bike lanes from the north trailhead to the back gate.
“We are partnering on that project with the county,” said Kelly Ezell, the park superintendent and district superintendent for central Alabama. “That’s the only portion of the park that currently doesn’t have bike lanes. The other bike lanes have been there for a while and are used a great deal. We have a lot of road bikers that use the park.”
The bike lanes that have been in place were installed as an addition to the road and are not wide enough, Ezell said. To put them in properly, the entire road will need to be overlaid, which will be another, larger project, she said.
“All the lanes will be made wide enough and properly constructed for the safety and use of the road bikers,” she said. “The second phase of the paving will be from Terrace Drive in front of the office, to Peavine. That will be done by the county and Oak Mountain State Park. Then we will work on front gate to North Trailhead.
“By the time we are done, all of the roads will have proper bike lanes,” Ezell said. “We anticipate more usage if the roads are safer and more convenient.”
Both bike lane projects are being funded in part by grants, she said.
Park officials also are upgrading the horse stables. Management of the stables formerly was contracted out, but park officials have now taken over that task. Some updates already have been made, but more improvements are planned in 2016.
“Since the previous contractor moved out, there were questions if the stables were still in business,” Ezell said. “We still have the horses, and it is operated daily. There has been no discontinuation of business there.”
The petting farm and barn are both open for business, and horseback trail rides will resume on March 1.
Ezell said state budget cuts have severely limited park officials’ ability to start new projects.
“Our budget has been raided, and we lost $3 million that went to the general fund,” Ezell said. “That was money we had generated through hard work and our efforts in the state park to make money to bring in funds and revenue. There are a lot of things we would really like to do, and we’ve had a lot of suggestions of things that would improve the park, but right now our hands are kind of tied.”
Park staff always want to do things to attract people and to enhance their experience, Ezell said. They do receive support from surrounding entities.
“Shelby County is wonderful to work with. They do a great job and come in and help us out,” she said. “The city of Pelham is very good to us as well.”
Due to the cuts, the park did increase ticket prices by $1 in November 2014, but Ezell said it’s still a great deal for families to spend the day at the park.
“The best way for people to support our park is to use our park,” she said. “The way we generate funds is from user fees. When you visit, you are a park partner and are helping with that.”
