Joe Gutierrez prepares to jump onto a rail at the new skate park on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Rotary Park in Bernalillo. (Photo by Stephen Montoya/Sandoval County)

BERNALILLO — Biking and skating enthusiasts can venture out to Bernalillo to use their skills in an unusual layout, now that the town unveiled its new skate park.

The skate park, which opened Saturday, is at Rotary Park just south of the community center. Rotary Park’s at 370 Rotary Park Road.

Bernalillo Economic and Community Development Director Mike Kloeppel said the new skate park has a pump track connected to it, which gives it more of a race-track-type look and allows riders to ride or skate longer without pausing. He also said the hills aren’t as big as at some other facilities, and the park features an asphalt layout.

The Town of Bernalillo unveiled its new skate park on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. The people seen here include Bernalillo Mayor Jack Torres, center, and Sandoval County BOE Director Ernestine Dominguez, right. The new skate park has a pump track connected to it, giving it more of a race-track-type look and allows riders to go longer distances. (Photo by Stephen Montoya/Sandoval County)

Kloeppel said the park is one of the first, if not the first, in the state with such a configuration.

“It has your steps and your rails and things like that,” he said. “In a skate park situation, they go maybe 10 to 15 feet and then they do something. The pump track allows them to go in a circular type of situation, and they can continue going around, around and around… They go up hills, down hills, around curves. The layout’s a lot different.”

Kloeppel said the park design’s reminiscent of a BMX track.

Funds for the park were secured from the sale of some property the town owned. He also said the estimated cost for the park was roughly $500,000.

Kloeppel said the town spent at least the last three or four years planning the park’s design and the actual location.

“It fit, and works out just wonderful,” Kloeppel said, adding multiple activities can take place within one location. “The town was fortunate enough to get some money that we could earmark just for that purpose.”