Watauga Texas Skate Park

The City of Watauga, Texas Skate Park.

Welcome to the newly renovated Watauga Skate Park! The skate park is still located within Indian Springs Park next to the Community Center on Indian Springs Rd. Covered seating, fitness and picnic stations, playground, restrooms, soccer fields, plenty of parking and a half mile walking trail are all complimentary amenities surrounding the skate park.

Watauga Skate Park Design

The Watauga Skatepark consists of both transitional and plaza terrain types, for all ages and skill levels. The park is now larger, with both sides having been extended to include more ‘skateable’ hard surface. One side consists of a large curved, escalating quarter pipe. The other side has two hips – one banked and the other as a quarter pipe. Both sides are great starting points for hitting the features within the park.

A Maloof-style T-frame feature with a rail and ledge is on the South side of the park. The middle consists of a huge manual pad complex for endless combinations as well as a simply, flat rail.  Finally, an elevated section with down rails, down ledges, and a jersey barrier sits closest to the Community Center. And what park is complete without a stair set? A long 3-stair set finds itself within the same elevated section of the park.

Project Background & Our Development Process

Before this renovation the skate park consisted of a flat slab with metal prefabricated ramps. The skatepark was engulfed by an unsightly chain link fence. Over the years the City recognized a steady decline in the utilization of the skate park. The City quickly took input from local skaters requesting a poured-in-place concrete skate park that they could call their own. SPA Skateparks is honored to have been called upon to rejuvenate the skate park as the City’s design-build skatepark contractor.  SPA and New Line, City staff and a focus group of local skaters began collaborating on what the desired skate park should look like.

Over the course of the next several months, the City sold the metal ramps through an auction house. The fence was removed. As a value engineering item, the skate park still includes much of the already-existing flat slab, which is still in great shape. Geofoam (structural foam) was used to create some of the plaza features within the park. This type of form fill was strategically used as to not place excessive weight on the subsurface.

As with all of SPA’s skate parks, all edges have been properly detailed with metal to provide a great experience for users as well as to protect the features themselves. The new skate park is now much more inviting to skaters and the public alike, and actually enhances the existing surroundings within the park. The Watauga Skate Park is certainly a great case study for Cities looking to re-purpose an underutilized tennis court slab or rehab an existing metal ramp skatepark.

We’d love to discuss upgrading your City’s skate park. For more information, please Contact Us.

Additional Links:
City of Watauga – skate park hours, directions and rules