Rusted Rails and Slippery Slopes: A Hazard to Local Skating Enthusiasts

Wadsworth Skateboard Park, located just before the Flagler Beach bridge, is the home to Palm Coast’s various forms of skaters, thrill seekers, and spectators. For the locals who skate at Wadsworth, this park is a large part of their lives. Many of the park’s regular users are here multiple days of the week, consistently.

The park has proven to be dangerous, though, with many accidents happening within this last year alone. The accidents, due to the state of the park’s equipment, have proven the need for an update. 

All of the ramps at Wadsworth are metal, which is not typically ideal for skateboarding. The metal ramps easily pick up condensation, resulting in slippery surfaces, a recipe for disaster. 

Reo Nguyen, a fifteen-year-old sophomore at Matanzas High School, has been skating at this park consistently for two years. He experienced an accident of his own at the park just this month. “A guy I was skating with was sweating on the ramps and I slipped and dislocated my elbow,” Nguyen said. “The whole park should be changed to concrete because of how slippery the metal ramps are.” 

Wadsworth’s ramps were last updated in February of 2018. A few major ramps and rails were replaced. Since then, many of these ramps are falling apart, rusting, and missing screws. 

Bostin Haggard, a sixteen-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School student, mentioned the dangers of the damage and rust to the safety railings atop the larger ramps. “The safety ramps are falling apart. Somebody is going to lean on that and fall backwards one day,” Haggard said. “I also wouldn’t be surprised if someone got cut by that railing, it’s sharp and rusted.”

Many of the park’s regular skaters had the same thing to say, “We need concrete ramps.”

While concrete ramps would be a large cost upfront, they could be a worthwhile investment. Maintenance to concrete ramps is not needed nearly as often as metal ramps, significantly lowering maintenance costs for the city. 

Daniel Mann, a 31-year-old skateboarder, has been skating at Wadsworth since 2005 and believes that concrete ramps would benefit the park as well. “They don’t get dewy and slippery. I have seen many people eat it on wet metal ramps.”

According to an article written by Julie Murphy in the Daytona Beach News Journal, July 7th, 2014, Flagler officials have talked about the idea of implementing concrete ramps in the park, but no official plan of action has been set to make this change. 

The local skaters consider the skate park to be their home. An update made to the park could guarantee the park goers safety and comfort, creating an environment that keeps people coming back.