Chicago Park District General Superintendent Michael P. Kelly and community members on the southeast side of Chicago broke ground on the 40-acre Bike Park at Big Marsh, the first bike park of its kind in the Midwest. The Bike Park at Big Marsh is a signature project under Mayor Emanuel’s Building on Burnham plan, a comprehensive vision to invest in Chicago’s parks and open spaces. The Bike Park at Big Marsh will be part of a 270 acre eco-restoration and habitat restoration to be built on a former industrial property in Calumet. The Bike Park will be located primarily on existing slag fields where plants have a hard time growing and successful habitat creation is unlikely. It will accommodate bikers of all ages and skill levels, and is expected to be complete by winter of this year. The 40-acre bike park is modeled after the highly successful Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, Colorado, which opened in 2011 and attracts hundreds of cyclists a day in the summer. The Bike Park at Big Marsh will include a single track bike trail, cycle-cross course, pump park, dirt jump trail, dual slalom course, gravity flow trail and a bicycle skills area. Big Marsh will also have a system of multi-use trails for walkers, runners, and birders and a communal plaza area where viewers can watch the bike action.