New pump track at Mansel Carter Oasis opens Saturday

By Janet Perez
Mail | X: @AzNewsmedia

A new pump track for bikes, scooters and skateboards will be opening soon at Mansel Carter Oasis Park as expansion work continues.

The pump track will be ready for riders when the park opens at 7 a.m., Saturday, March 9 at 19535 E. Appleby Road. It joins an existing pump track and skate plaza.

“It adds a different type of use, a different skill set but it shares the same type of user to our wheel-friendly skate park,” said Adam Robinson, deputy director of Queen Creek’s Community Services department.

The new pump track, whic cost $700,000, fits a space that’s about 150 feet by 120 feet and is made primarily of asphalt and rubber. Motorized vehicles are not allowed.

Robinson said public support for the pump track was registered in 2018, when the town did extensive community outreach as it updated Queen Creek’s master plan.

“The public’s feedback was consistent for a BMX track or pump track. We just hadn’t had a good location in our parks until now,” Robinson said.

Park patrons who have been watching its construction are excited for the track to open.

“The No. 1 thing we hear is, ‘When does it open, when does it open, when does it open,’” Robinson said. “They’re just really excited about it, especially all of the users of the skate park. They know what it is and they’re excited about using it. It adds a whole different kind of realm to their bike, scooter and skateboard activities.”

The track has been completed on schedule and ahead of Mansel Carter Oasis Park’s other new amenities. It is part of a 13-acre expansion at Mansel Carter Oasis Park that will eventually include six tennis courts, six sand volleyball courts, four pickleball courts, a restroom building, parking and passive green space, as well as plenty of shade.

The town broke ground on the approximately $10 million expansion in 2022. The remainder of the expansion will be open in the next few months, Robinson said.

Along with the skate plaza and existing pump track, the amenities found on the original 48 acres of Mansel Carter Oasis Park include two lighted multipurpose fields, four lighted baseball fields, a playground, two sand volleyball courts, a 5-acre fishing lake and the popular shipwreck-themed splash pad.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.

Janet Perez
News Editor | Queen Creek & San Tan Valley

jperez@iniusa.org

Meet Janet
Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State  University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.

Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.

Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science. 

Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.  

Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.