Page last updated on July 1, 2024 at 5:12 pm
This page provides an overview of current projects happening at parks, trails, and facilities. Projects will be organized by location with current details below.
Building Trades Park Master Plan
A new master plan created for Building Trades Park addresses aging park infrastructure, as well as future anticipated needs and community wants for the park. Mader Design, a Beech Grove, Ind. based landscape architect firm, presented the final Building Trades Park Master Plan to the Board of Park Commissioners at their May 2024 regular meeting. A first round of park improvements, focusing on accessibility, are planned to be contracted before the end of 2024 using a portion of the city's available American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
The Board of Park Commissioners approved a contract with Mader Designto design the first phase of accessibilitiy improvements to Building Trades Park. These improvements will include north-south accessibility across the park (removal of the existing wooden ramp to the picnic shelter, and a new north-south connection); and, as funding permits, the construction of a new picnic shelter. The goal is to, by the end of 2024, contract these improvements for construction in 2025.
Bicentennial Gateway
The Bicentennial gateway planned to welcome people to Bloomington from the city's north side is scheduled for completion in late 2024. The Board of Park Commissioners at their June 25, 2024 meeting reviewed contracts to prepare the site on the north end of Miller-Showers Park, 1500 N. College Ave., for the Bicentennial gateway and a public art element; to build the limestone gateway wall; and to fabricate and install metal lettering and LED lighting on the gateway.
Updated renderings of the concept were shared at the end of November 2023 after considering public feedback. Additional feedback on the redesigned gateway concept was collected through Dec. 15, 2023. For more information or updates, email parks@bloomington.in.gov or call 812-349-3700.
Clear Creek Trail
A detour on the Clear Creek Trail, about a half mile south of Rockport Road and a half mile north of West That Road, will be in place at least until July 2025. The detour is paved and accessible, and routes trail traffic around the construction site of a new vehicle bridge that will connect Gordon and Fullerton Pikes.
Hopewell Commons
A new, one-acre urban park dubbed "Hopewell Commons" is scheduled to be complete in 2024. Part of the Phase I East Hopewell Neighborhood Development, Hopewell Commons is west of the Seminary Square Kroger. The park includes trees, greenspace, a covered pavilion, and a play structure. It is being built with sustainable features including permeable pavers, a stormwater swale with native plants, soil cells for street trees, and a stormwater cistern to capture rainwater for irrigation.
Miller-Showers Hydraulic Dredging
The City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) has the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the detention pools at Miller-Showers Park for the purpose of stormwater management. A dredging project to remove an estimated 2,900 cubic yards of sediment from 5.56 acres of open water in two ponds at Miller-Showers Park is scheduled to begin June 27, 2024. The dredging project will ensure the ponds maintain their capacity to capture stormwater, slow its flow to allow litter, sediment, and other solids to settle out of the water before the water continues downstream to Griffy Creek.
RCA Community Park
A project currently underway at RCA Community Park is the construction of a new rentable picnic shelter at the location indicated below (just west of the restroom building) in summer 2024. This 37' x 42' shelter replaces the old large shelter that was removed from the western edge of the field last year.
Urban Forestry & Tree Planting
During 2024, Parks and Recreation will replant approximately 150 trees along the Duke Energy's Bloomington Reliability Project corridors (mostly on Rogers Street and 17th Street). A contract with Morin's Landscaping to plant these trees was approved at the March Board of Park Commissioners meeting. Additionally, a third phase of the Bicentennial Tree planting throughout the city is planned to be contracted for planting in 2025 by the end of this year.
Winslow Sports Complex
The tennis courts at Winslow Sports Complex are scheduled for an upgrade in 2024. Cassady Electric will remove the existing tennis court lights and install 24 new 34,500 lumen LED bulbs along with a digital time clock to allow lights to come on only during specific times, and a digital timer that will allow each tennis court to work independently and for a timed duration. Work is scheduled to be complete by October 1, 2024.