Contractor finishes walking path at sports complex

It's been a long time in the making, but the walking path of the Amundson Sports Complex is finally finished.

Throughout the day last Thursday trucks filled with asphalt went in and out of the graveled walkway as Doran VonHeeder of Von Construction & Land Management poured fresh asphalt on the eight-foot wide walking path. His crew put the final touches on the walking path on Friday.

Von Construction won the bid to finish the remaining 1,700 feet of the walkway. VonHeeder wanted to ensure it was built and provided a bid that was much lower than the standard cost for a job of that nature, doing the project for $42,000.

"We are basically donating this to help the community," said VonHeeder, who formed the company with his son, Colton, almost three years ago. "We're not losing money, but we're not making money. We just wanted to make it better for the community. This walking path is going to make this so much better for the community," he said. He and his crew applied about 170 tons of asphalt on Thursday, making some final tweaks the next day. "It looks great and was ready for the public that day," said Doran VonHeeder, who added they are always looking for additional employees.

Nearly half of the near mile-long walking path was done eight years ago at a cost of $75,000. Half of that came from a grant from the Montana Department of Transportation. The Wildhorse Sports Association, the nonprofit organization that manages the Amundson Sports Complex, the site of the walking path, paid the other half, said Ron Warren, a WSA board member who has been involved with the making of the complex from the start in 2012. However, the organization didn't have the funds to complete the walking path in 2016 and so it sat, unfinished.

It was Sanders County Commissioner Dan Rowan's idea to get the walking path completed and when he approached the other two commissioners, Johnny Holland and Tony Cox, they all agreed it was an important project to do and they had the funds to get the job done. "There are a lot of senior citizens that use it and a lot of young people, too. A lot of the kids use it to get to the fields. This was long overdue," said Rowan, who is pleased with how much the WSA and the community has done to get this far with the sports complex.

"It will be so beneficial to the safety of kids coming out for practices and games, and it provides a great way for adults to walk or bike without impeding the emergency traffic and county shop traffic," said Erika Lawyer, the WSA president. "It's been a long time coming, but things take time and money. Rome wasn't built in a day," she added.

Warren said that people routinely use the walking path all year around. "It's steady all day. I see young and old using it, including a man with a wheelchair. By having the whole walking path done I think it'll triple the traffic to the complex," said Warren, who donated his surveying skills to the complex. He believes that more parents will let their kids go to the complex because they won't be walking or riding on the road.

The walking path runs from the entrance of the Amundson Sports Complex along Old Airport Road to the old Grainry building. Von Construction started the project two weeks ago with between 30-40 truck loads of gravel, which the county supplied. VonHeeder's crew included Doug Wipplinger, Mike Carbis, Brian Green, and Kale Morefield, all Plains residents.

The complex has come a long way since its inception, said Warren. They have four baseball/softball fields and three soccer fields. They also have seven permanent basketball hoops along the old airport runway and will be installing four more this year before the annual Wildhorse Shootout 3-on-3 basketball competition on June 22. Warren said that no taxpayer money has been used on the complex.

Warren is pleased with how far WSA has come with the 35-acre sports complex. He said they have an automatic sprinkler system on each field, installed at each one as they raised the money. WSA has paid some $750,000 on the project, so far. And, he noted, the entire WSA board is comprised of volunteers.

Lawyer said that the next two big projects will be the restrooms and concessions stand building, for which they've raised about half of the needed funds, and pickleball courts, which the Plains Pickleball Association, also a nonprofit organization, is in the process of raising funds to build. The restrooms and concessions building will likely be the final construction for WSA.

"Installing the septic and completing a new well this year would allow us to focus on finishing up the building next year and we will have a much better idea of how close we are to the finish line," said Lawyer. The existing fields have enabled WSA to accommodate youth baseball, softball and soccer in the fall and the spring, which she said serves hundreds of local children and families.

"It was a good project for the county and well received by the people there," said Rowan. "It gets used a lot and we felt it would get a lot more use when it's finished," he said.