Bike raceway trashed, voted money spent

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque’s hopes of building a world-class velodrome facility are on hold, largely because a bicycle track secured years ago from the Pan American Games in Canada has rotted away.

“It’s unusable,” spokesman Mark Motsko of the Albuquerque Municipal Development Department said. “The track has suffered from dry rot, rot and warpage.”

The track was secured by the now-defunct Southwest Velodrome Association in 1999. The non-profit association was the group that pitched the idea of building a velodrome facility to the city of Albuquerque.

“That’s kind of what started the whole bicycle park veloport complex,” Motsko said.

The complex currently includes one of the largest covered BMX tracks in the nation, but no velodrome.

The plans are now on hold even though voters approved a $2 million bond item in 2003 that bore the name of “Albuquerque Southwest Velodrome”. The money was to pay for infrastructure and construction at the park site just east of Isotopes Stadium.

The velodrome association brought the track to New Mexico in 1999, and then stored the track at Concrete Systems, Incorporated in northeast Albuquerque. The massive wooden structure was stored outside the business and exposed to the elements for years.

“They didn’t know where to store it, and I was told it would be stored for about three months,” business owner Bill High told KRQE News 13.

But months turned into years, and the track eventually became a useless pile of lumber.

“You store lumber outside for a period of time, it weathers, it warps, it deteriorates,” High said.

High started giving the pieces to contractors and lumber yards for use in other projects about a year ago, he said.

City officials believed the track was in good shape when the $2 million bond issue was presented to and approved by Albuquerque voters in 2003, Motsko said. But they learned the track was unusable shortly after the election in 2004.

“All of that money is currently encumbered or spent,” Motsko said. “That’s why we have the BMX park and the new bathroom facilities that were just finished last month.”

Plans to build and construct a new velodrome are in limbo.

“There are long-term plans in the bicycle park for a velodrome facility,” Motsko said. “But currently there are no funding sources for any further design or planning.”