More details about OZ Trails Bike Park were unveiled at a packed community open house on March 5. 

Walton-owned Runway Group first announced plans for the bike park last month. It will be located in Bella Vista along Highway 71, with the main entrance at the Mercy Way traffic light.

The park, which is scheduled to open in 2026, will expand the existing OZ Trails network and will be equipped with a high-speed chairlift system that will provide year-round lift access. It will also include a pump track, hiking trail, art walk, dining facilities, and a bike shop and rental center.

Construction on the trails is underway and expected to finish by spring 2026, according to Alex Pierce-Mercer, a trail designer with Gravity Logic. There will be more than 17 miles of downhill mountain biking trails across 200 acres.

Gravity Logic has a long history of building bike parks, typically at ski resorts where they are working with steeper elevations.

“Here … we have more width on our side,” Pierce-Mercer said, which allowed them to design more variety and features into the trails.

Unlike a ski resort, where they have to integrate the trail design into ski runs and maintenance roads, creating the design for the Oz Trails Bike Park was working with a blank slate. 

“At a ski resort, we have to mitigate with the ski runs, so they're not on our side for the flow, but here we're just in the woods,” Pierce-Mercer said. “So it's feature after feature after feature until you get to the bottom.”

There will be mountain biking trails for every skill level from beginner to expert. 

The bike park isn’t just for mountain bikers, however. A dedicated hiking trail will start at the bottom and work its way in a loop up and back down the hill. Scenic lift tickets will also be available for those who just want to ride the chairlift to the top.

A high-speed four-person chairlift will be installed, running approximately 2,600 feet — or half a mile — in length.

Building the chairlift will be similar to operations at ski resorts around the country, said Mason Lane, a civil engineer with Leitner-Poma, the company providing the lift.

Unlike a ski resort, where chairlifts are retrofitted for bikes in the summer, this chairlift will alternate between a four-person chair and a four-bike rack. This will be the first chairlift in the country Leitner-Poma has installed with this type of design.

Several buildings currently on the property are set to be demolished to accommodate the new facilities. The base area will include a building that houses a bike rental and retail shop, and a dining area that will serve food and alcohol.

There will be indoor and outdoor seating accommodating around 100 seats, according to Brad Kingsley, an architect with Hufft. There will be an outdoor deck area, “so you can sit on the deck and watch people come down the hill,” he said, similar to facilities offered at ski areas. 

“It’s a mini ski resort for bikes,” he added.