Project: Dew Tour Downhill Street Course

Location: Portland, OR

Date: September 2014

Client: California Rampworks

Project Overview:

Downhill skateboard and bmx professional event. This event was created by NBC Sports, Alli Sports and Mountain Dew and aired on NBC. It took place in downtown Portland, Oregon, on Broadway Street between Jefferson and Salmon Street.

Scope:

• Geo-location and terrain mapping
• Course design
• Scaffold and structure design
• Assembly documents
• Renderings
• Construction coordination

Design Challenges:

– Designing a course on an existing downhill sloping course with varying pitches
– Managing speed control and feature spacing to optimize the set-up for each zone.
– Creating a course that worked well for skateboard and bmx
– Designing a course that fit the brand image and event concept the Dew Tour wanted to preserve
– Creating detailed assembly documents to help with the overnight build schedule
– Coordinating multiple crews spread across three city blocks
– Making in field adjustments to allow for imperfections in the street asphalt and ill-placed manhole covers and cracks

Solution:

We were able to design a full three-block downhill street course that worked extremely well to showcase the skateboard and bmx pros for the nationally televised event. Shipping containers, flat-bed trucks and graffiti- covered cars were incorporated into the overall design of the course. The design also contained multiple gaps, launch ramps, rails, stairs and other unique features linking them all together.  We worked directly with the Dew Tour group to incorporate the look and feel they were going for.