Pima County officials have decided to proceed with moving the Brad Gorman memorial trailhead to McDonald Park despite no consensus among cyclists and homeowners in the area.
In a letter to Jean Gorman from Priscilla Cornelio, Pima County’s department of transportation director, Cornelio said because it appears likely that the county will be awarded a federal grant to add bike lanes to the road leading to the park, they will proceed with putting the trailhead at the park.
“There was no clear consensus on the best location for the memorial trailhead although there was support for installation of bicycle lanes along Harrison Road. Some attendees (yourself included) indicated that if bike lanes were installed along Harrison, the McDonald Park location would be more acceptable,” Cornelio wrote to Gorman.
“Pima County is almost assured of receiving the needed funding which the department felt was contingent for the selection of McDonald Park as the location for the memorial trailhead,” she continued. “The department is now proceeding with implementation of the proposed memorial trailhead project located at McDonald Park.”
Cornelio said the site will look very similar to the original trailhead which was going to be located along Catalina Highway, but was quashed when homeowners mobilized against the plan.
The plan for McDonald park includes a ramada, memorial, pavers, bike racks, benches and a water fountain. The plan will also include a paved pathway to Prospect Lane, which will allow cyclists quicker access to the bike route heading toward Mt. Lemmon.
During the public meeting in May, many cyclists said they would not use the trailhead if it was located at the park, but Cornelio disagrees.
“We are confident that once bicyclists become aware of the location of the facility it will be supported by the bicycling community,” she wrote.
Gorman said she wasn’t sure how she would proceed since the trailhead won’t be located on Catalina Highway.
Read the other posts about the trailhead:
- Little agreement on Mt. Lemmon bicycle trailhead location at public meeting
- County to host public meeting on trailhead
- BAC will revisit Mt. Lemmon trailhead
- Trailhead process ‘unusual’ Supervisor says
- BAC to investigate options for trailhead
- Pima DOT director discusses trailhead
Its McDonald Park not MacDonald. http://www.pima.gov/nrpr/parks/mcdonald/MDPA_fa…
Thanks Kyle. Not sure where I got MacDonald from.
No worries. You had me second guessing and I grew up playing at the park. Even had a job maintaining the baseball fields. I think it will be a good alternative to the other location. Its too bad the original location wasn't possible. It's not like people don't hang out at the base of the mountain anyways.