Hardscape Solutions: Along for the ride

LOCATION: Houston
COMPANY: Yellowstone Landscape

Adjacent to a 10-acre skate park, the Rockstar Energy Bike Park creates an exciting destination for skateboarders and BMX riders.

Yellowstone Landscape won the job based on its work on the skate park next door.

The site was formerly a wastewater management plant and sits in a floodplain that was overrun by invasive Chinese tallow trees. Yellowstone combatted this challenge by adding 700 trees within the park for detail and to divert the water.

Yellowstone Landscape also installed everything that wasn’t part of a BMX track, including the trees, shrubs, turf and irrigation system, as well as the parking lot areas. The greenery helped soften the look of all the paving, tracks and BMX apparatuses, according to Joseph Barnes, marketing director at Yellowstone Landscape. To complete the installation in just under 18 months, the 12- to 20-person crew used skid-steer loaders, trenchers, mini excavators, tillers and a shooting boom forklift from Caterpillar, Bobcat, John Deere, Kubota and Ditch Witch.

“We finished minutes before the park opened up for its big grand opening celebration,” Barnes says. “With these projects, there are so many trades coming in and deadlines kicking in, and it really adds to the pressure because all of us are trying to get done at the same time. It was kind of a rush at the end, but we were able to work around the other trades and have it ready to go on day one.”

Once the installation was completed, Yellowstone began a two-year maintenance agreement.

The project earned Yellowstone Landscape a Bronze Award from the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Awards of Excellence program.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The North Houston Bike Park is a 22-acre development that was completed and opened in the fall of 2019.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The park includes distinct areas for all types of BMX riding.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The contractor worked alongside other specialty trades to complete the project in time for opening day.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The pedestrian bridge overlooking the bowls portion of the park.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The landscape was meant to compliment the competition areas and move spectators along paved pathways.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Crews planted more than 400 trees within the park.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Seasonal plantings were omitted intentionally, favoring an environmentally responsible plant palette.

Hardscape project at BMX Park (Photo: Yellowstone Landscape)

Trees planted within the park include native red oak.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Native grasses and bald cypress were also used within the site.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Located in a floodplain, the contractor spent extra time developing an effective drainage system.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The site the park sits on was once a wastewater treatment plant.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Abstract sculptures and natural elements at the concert pavilion and great lawn.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

This BMX rider sculpture welcomes riders into the park.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Pathways lead riders and observers to other noncompetition track areas.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

The park was to be the site of the 2020 BMX World Championships in the spring of 2020.

Photo: Yellowstone Landscape

Rockstar purchased naming rights to the park just before opening day.