Rocky Branch Park Improvements - North Carolina

Project Title: Rocky Branch Park Improvements - Green Zone & Blue Zone Trails

Project Description: The Green Zone and Blue Zone Trails are the second and third phases of a multi-phased plan outlined in the Rocky Branch Trail Enhancement Plan. These once conceptual trail zones are now designed at ground-level and ready for construction. The design document for the Green Zone is included in Attachment A and the design document for the Blue Zone is included in Attachment B. 

The Green Zone is a beginner-level corridor intended to be both fun and highly entertaining while providing various opportunities for riders to hone their bike handling skills. A relatively short trail, its success will be based on the creative implementation of natural elements such as rock, installing modular or pre-fabricated skills features, and terraforming the trail tread surface to create a fun, safe and repeatable experience that generates excitement and enthusiasm amongst budding cyclists while fostering growth in the local cycling community.

The designed corridor is located on the northern peninsula of the park sandwiched between an urban tributary to the east and residential parcels to the west. Much of the overall trail corridor resides on low-angle slopes where construction in certain areas will require lift and tilt, or raised tread construction. The resulting elevated trail surface should include a continuous series of rollers, berms and small jump features that serve double-duty as watershed devices. Implementation of rock features as visual anchors, chokes, and technical features will be essential to the success of the trail zone. The Green Zone Trail is approximately 6,000 linear feet in length and includes the construction of four (4) signature trail features and the integration of imported thick stack fieldstone rock.

This project includes an add alternate for the Blue Zone Trail that will be awarded depending on project budget availability. The Blue Zone is an intermediate-level trail corridor intended to be both challenging and highly entertaining while providing various opportunities for riders to hone their bike handling skills, test their abilities and experience trail features usually found in the mountains or bike parks. Its success will be based on the creative implementation of natural elements such as rock, maximization of the landscape's flow and topography, and surface terraforming where necessary.

The designed corridor is located on the southern flank of the park sandwiched between Rocky Branch Creek to the north and the Norfolk Southern right-of-way to the south. The overall theme of the Blue Zone is variety. Much of the overall trail corridor resides on mild slopes with a range of 10-50% found throughout the zone. Trail characteristics for each build segment are defined in the design document where steeper slopes provide opportunity for a bench cut that creates a sense of exposure and lower angle slopes lend themselves to a more traditional Piedmont cross-country style of trail where trail surface texture can be enhanced by plugging rocks and preserving roots. Implementation of rock features as visual anchors, chokes, and technical features will be essential to the success of the trail zone. The Blue Zone Trail is approximately 7,000 linear feet in length and includes the construction of five (5) signature trail features and the integration of imported thick stack fieldstone rock.

Further details of the bid, contract, and project specifications are included in subsequent sections of this project manual.

Company/Organization/Agency Submitting Contract: Tarheel Trailblazers

Primary Contact for Contract Information: David Baker

Email Address: davidbaker.ce@hotmail.com

Closest City to Project: Belmont

State/Province/Region: North Carolina

Country: United States

Pre-Bid Meeting Date: 12/3/2020

Pre-Bid Meeting Time: 2:0:0 PM

Anticipated Project Start Date: 3/1/2021

Application Deadline: 12/15/2020

Additional Project Bid Information: See Project Manual

12/10/20 Update:

See Revised project manual (Addendum 1). Changes are discussed in the RFI Log and indicated with red text in the project manual.

Date Submitted to PTBA: 11/22/2020