Connecting McMinnville: Enhancing the Bigbee River Trail & Linear Parks with the RTP Grant

The City of McMinnville is moving forward with a strategic modernization of the Bigbee River Trail and its three supporting linear parks: Rocket Park, Salley’s Alley, and Hobbs Park. This project is a top priority identified in our Parks & Recreation Master Plan and is the primary focus of our federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant application.

Working with professional trail designers, the City has developed a shovel-ready plan to upgrade this corridor, focusing on critical safety remediation and shared-use widening to better accommodate both pedestrians and mountain biking enthusiasts.

Why these improvements are necessary:

Support for Public Safety & Patrols: By widening the trail and managing invasive overgrowth, we create a clear, open corridor. This makes the area significantly easier for the McMinnville Police Department to patrol, which is a proven method for lowering crime rates and ensuring a more secure environment for neighbors and users.

Youth Engagement & Recreation (Hobbs Park): We are installing specialized mountain biking skills features to create a dedicated practice loop. This provides a safe, off-road environment for young riders to build coordination and confidence on professional-grade features.

Faster Emergency Response & Wayfinding: We are installing a unified system of trail markers and signage across the system. This allows users to identify their exact location and helps emergency responders navigate the trail quickly and accurately to reach someone in a crisis.

Emergency Access & Parking: We will formalize and expand parking facilities at Rocket Park, Salley’s Alley, and Hobbs Park. This eliminates congestion, prevents blocked entrances, and ensures that emergency vehicles always have clear, immediate access to the trailheads.

Physical Infrastructure: The core of this project involves replacing an aging, decaying wood bridge with a professional, multi-use boardwalk and fixing deep erosion ruts. This ensures a stable, predictable, and sustainable path for all shared-use traffic while maintaining the natural dirt-trail experience.

Fiscal Responsibility:
This project requires no money from the City of McMinnville’s cash budget. The required local match is met entirely through "In-Kind" contributions—utilizing the value of our existing city equipment, staff labor, and community volunteer hours.

Your Voice Matters:
While the technical design has been professionally engineered, community support is the final step to secure these federal tax dollars. Your feedback will be submitted directly with our application to demonstrate that this project reflects the vision of our community. Thank you for helping us bring this investment home to McMinnville.