Our friends over in Milton have made a big decision, literally: they’ve decided to approve construction for an Olympic-size velodrome that will live in the town permanently. This, of course, is in anticipation of the 2015 Pan Am games that will draw an estimated 10,000 athletes and officials to the GTA.
According to the Town of Milton’s official website (which is surprisingly well-designed), the track itself will be 250 metres in diameter with banked corners and room for 1,500 seats.
Velodromes don’t come cheap though – this one is estimated to cost up to $45 million. Nearly half of this cost will be covered by the host community ($19.8 million, to be exact) and a total of $9 million will come from Peter Gilgan of Mattamy Homes. (You can find the complete funding breakdown here.) While the costs are steep, the velodrome will serve the community as a general sports facility as well.
The wheels are indeed in motion, pardon the pun – however they still need a thumbs up from the province on the development. If all goes as planned, the velodrome will be a great step forward for Ontario in supporting cycling and improving the health of its citizens in general. After all, healthy citizens make for a more productive workforce and lower healthcare costs.
Sounds like a pretty good idea, right?!
Geoff Snack likes cycling to places that are very far away (like Milton to try out the new velodrome). Follow him on Twitter at @GeoffSnack.
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