Switchyard Park is a 65-acre park located on the city’s south side. The park is a culmination of decades of planning, as both city leaders and residents saw the potential of an abandoned railroad switchyard to become a destination park for people of all ages and abilities.
Completed in November 2019, Switchyard Park at the onset required substantial remediation of coal ash and cinders, the result of the property’s historic use as a railroad switchyard.
Bloomington citizens had unprecedented input into the creation of the park, and into the selection of park amenities. The park straddles the city’s B-Line Trail, a 3.1-mile former railroad corridor that provides an avenue for transportation to and from the park and surrounding neighborhoods, and for economic development in the form of restaurants, housing, art galleries, and other businesses.
Amenities include:
- Accessible Playground
- Basketball court
- 4 pickleball courts
- 3 bocce ball courts
- Skate park
- Fitness stations
- Community gardens with 39 raised beds
- Open greenspace
- Day-lighted stream and wetland
- Main Performance Stage with lawn seating for 5,000
- Pavilion indoor event space
- Picnic Shelter
- Shaded Bosque seating
- Community Foundation Switchyard Plaza Spray Pad
- 2 dog parks with fenced areas for large and small dogs
- Paved, accessible trails around and through the park
- 3.1-mile paved, accessible B-Line Trail through the park
- vehicle parking lots at Rogers Street, Grimes Lane, and Walnut Street offer a total of 400+ spaces
Fun Facts:
- Switchyard Park contains five bridges
- Approximate Asphalt Trail Length: 1.52 miles (does not count the B-line); Approximate Concrete Sidewalk Length: .50 mile
- Bypass trail is 16’ wide.
- Native Plant Restoration: 356,934 sq. ft.
- 600+ trees; 100,000 sq. ft. native plants; 2,000 reforestation seedlings
- Total grass coverage: 643,758 sq. ft.
- 124 Bicycle racks
Report a problem at Switchyard Park here.
