By Ralah Sanadiki

News Correspondent

The days of skateboarders crowding the streets of Boston could soon be coming to a close, as The Big Dig, a 10-year-long architectural project, includes plans to build a skate park underneath Zakim Bridge in East Cambridge.
The park will feature through-pipes, bowls, ledges, root-bumps and skating banks, forming an obstacle course free from the threat of cars and unwelcoming glares from angry pedestrians, neighbors and police.
Skateboarders whose boards have suffered from wheel damage from the steps and ledges of Copley Square and other locations that skaters have commandeered over the years will have a place of their own to skate.
“Skating in Boston is different because it’s more a ‘product of the environment,’  said Armin Bachman, co-owner of Orchard Skateshop on Harvard Avenue in Allston. “A lot of cities have big skate parks whereas here we only have ledges, so we work with what we have.”
According to a Boston Globe article from February 4, 2004, the park will be tailored to the boarding styles of east coast skaters, who are generally drawn to obstacles reminiscent of the streets of major east coast cities like Boston and New York.
Although he demonstrated positive support for the project, Bachman protested that smaller projects in terms of both size and budget might have better suited Boston’s skating community.
“We should try and take the initiative to achieve smaller, more realistic goals for a fraction of the price. [The proposed] 4.5 million dollars is a lot of money. For a tenth of that price we could have three or four amazing skate plazas in different neighborhoods all over the city, that could be used by hundreds of kids throughout Boston,” Bachman said.
Originally located in Mission Hill, Orchard has evolved along with its following, and has now grown into a much larger store in order to meet the needs of the growing skating community.
Bachman said skateboarding has grown exponentially as a mainstream sport over the past five years, but has been growing as a culture for 30 years.
Aaron Tenbuuren, a sophomore graphic design and game design major, uses his skateboard to get around the city and campus.
“Copley square is the next best alternative to an actual skate park because it has tons of really great ledges and rails to use,” said Tenbuuren. “There’s also a basketball court behind International Village but its just flat ground and isn’t much fun to skate on.”
The last press update posted on the Charles River Skatepark website estimated the park to be open to the public by the end of 2009.