City paves course for world para-cycling championships – The Redstone Rocket

Photo by Eric Schultz
Paving crews strip and pave Explorer Boulevard on Aug. 19 in Huntsville. Crews are resurfacing roads in Cummings Research Park, where athletes will compete during the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-7. The work is part of the City of Huntsville’s regular repaving program and is expected to improve the course before athletes arrive.

Photo by Eric Schultz
Paving crews strip and pave Explorer Boulevard on Aug. 19 in Huntsville. Crews are resurfacing roads in Cummings Research Park, where athletes will compete during the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-7. The work is part of the City of Huntsville’s regular repaving program and is expected to improve the course before athletes arrive.
The road course that will host some of the world’s top para-cyclists is getting a fresh surface ahead of the 2026 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Huntsville.
Crews are resurfacing roads in Cummings Research Park, where athletes will compete during the Labor Day weekend event, Sept. 4-7. The work is part of the City of Huntsville’s regular repaving program and is expected to improve the course before athletes arrive.
“The majority of the resurfacing should be completed this week,” Erin Koshut, executive director of Cummings Research Park for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, said. “So yes, before the athletes arrive.”
Koshut said the remaining resurfacing work is scheduled for the fall. Explorer Boulevard will be resurfaced in full, along with several patches elsewhere that already have been completed.
The improvements are not being made with a specialized racing surface in mind.
“No special considerations in terms of paving surface,” Koshut said. “It’s standard road surface; good for two-wheels, three-wheels and four-wheels.”
The championships will feature athletes competing on a variety of cycles, including two-wheeled cycles, handcycles, tandems and tricycles. The competition schedule will include individual time trials and road races.
While the championships provide a high-profile reason to prepare the area, Koshut said the road improvements are part of a broader investment in Cummings Research Park.
“For the city’s part, the roads will be repaved in time for the event, and it is my understanding there is no special treatment,” Koshut said. “This is all part of the city’s repaving budget and schedule.”
The city also has planned pedestrian improvements and new signs in the research park.
“We appreciate the investment of road infrastructure, pedestrian improvements and new signs that were all planned prior to the World Championships,” Koshut said.
“The city team is doing a great job to get this done,” she said.
The improvements come as Cummings Research Park prepares to welcome athletes, families, spectators and visitors from around the world.
“CRP is our economic crown jewel, the second largest research park in the country, and we are honored to be hosting the 2026 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships,” Koshut said.
Cummings Research Park is the second-largest research park in the United States and fourth-largest in the world, according to the park information.
Chip Cherry, president and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, said the championships will provide an opportunity for the community to watch athletes competing at the highest level of their sport, according to a CRP press release at the time of the announcement in 2023.
“This is going to be a terrific opportunity to see elite athletes race again, and these men and women are at the top of their sport,” Cherry said.
The event also gives Huntsville a chance to showcase Cummings Research Park and the community’s support for para-cycling.
“It has been great to see the growing excitement around para-cycling,” Cherry said, “and we are incredibly honored to host the UCI World Championships two years before the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to Los Angeles.”
No tickets are required to watch the races, and organizers say there will be opportunities for spectators and volunteers to take part in the event.
For the athletes, the preparations will mean arriving to a course with freshly paved sections and other infrastructure improvements already in place.
For Huntsville, the championships will provide a global stage, and a newly resurfaced road course on which to showcase the city.
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