New ADA sidewalks now at Gates Park

The sidewalks at Gates Park have undergone a big upgrade recently as they are now up to Americans with Disabilities Act specifications.
The need for the updated sidewalks was identified in a Custer City parks master plan done in 2017, said  Steve Pischke, chairperson of the city Parks, Recreation and Forestry Committee. The work has taken less than a year to complete and was bid out earlier in this calendar year.  
The plan was done by KLJ engineering out of Rapid City, and took a look at all of the city’s park properties and facilities, even unplanned and undeveloped properties. From there the plan “came up with some suggestions for what needed to be done,” said Pischke, like this project to make Gates Park, specifically at Hutt-Loomer Field, more accessible.
The design for the project was done by Tallgrass Landscape Architecture in Custer and calls for sidewalks all the way out to the dugouts at Hutt-Loomer Field and for an improved, more level parking area. Although they might not be the flashiest improvements, they make a big difference to those who may otherwise have a hard time using the park due to disabilities or mobility issues.
After touring the finished updates at the park, “it was more than I thought,” said Pischke.  
Still, there is some that could be done to make the park even better, said Pischke, saying he and the committee use the parks master plan to plan for what’s next at the facilities.
One possibility could be new fencing by vault toilets at the park, or even looking at other park areas. For example, in the future the parks and rec committee might work with the Forest Service to improve a fitness trail near the Forest Service headquarters for public use.