Wheels are in motion to begin construction of Geraldine’s new bike tracks.
Construction on the tracks in Riddell’s Reserve will begin next month.
The park will boast a large shared path for cyclists and walkers which will take them up the hill.
The gradient will be constructed to make the path more accessible to walkers of all ages while being wide enough to keep them safe.
Project spokeswoman Larissa Drysdale said walkers had been considered the whole way through the plans.
Mrs Drysdale said at the top of the hill a community area would eventually be constructed with picnic tables and an outlook over the town.
Five tracks would begin there, and make their way down the hill.
She said the project was under the umbrella of Bike Geraldine.
While the idea had been in the making for about a year, it had been set in motion in May. Mrs Drysdale was one of the five members who had got the project this far.
The group had raised $120,000 for the project, with $100,000 being granted by the Timaru District Council.
The money had secured the construction of the tracks which would begin next month.
Mrs Drysdale said the group was making a ‘‘call to action’’ to the wider community to get the project to a level the town could be proud of.
The area had been cleared of pine trees last summer, and the project would work to replant the area in natives, and — along with other things — install picnic tables.
The group would be making an appearance at the Geraldine Festival where they would be hosting a fundraising event for the project.
All that could be said about the surprise event was it would be interactive and featured local community members.
In a recent walk through town, the group had let shopkeepers know more about the project.
Mrs Drysdale said the group had been donated a lot of prizes for the festival fundraiser ‘‘by loads of enthusiastic shop owners’’.
Sub committee member and walker Kathryn Horrell said the organisation was planning to make the park, ‘‘something Geraldine will be proud of’’.
She said her son had been one of the many children to have dug paths down the hillside over the years.
He had begun digging them 25 years ago, and believed he was one of the first.
Mrs Drysdale said loads of parents had lost a lot of good tools over the years, but with only a skatepark in the town, it was always inevitable the children would need to find other things to do.
Bike Geraldine had constructed 37kn of bike tracks all up, which included the progress on the track from Gale Cutting Rd back to town which would be completed by early next year.
Despite the name, Bike Geraldine’s tracks were not just about cyclists. Mrs Drysdale said those tracks had been used by runners, walkers and people walking their dogs.
She said with 60% of cars going through Geraldine in summer having bicycles on them it was ‘‘beyond’’ simply providing for the youth.
She said as well as the health benefits the tracks would provide the community, stopping the flow of traffic through the town could have economical benefits as well.
