While the Alabama Department of Transportation replaces downtown Birmingham’s I-59/20 bridges, skateboarders are tending to their own, unsanctioned construction project below of one of the bridges.

About two weeks ago, a concrete slab with quarter-pipes and grinding rails sprouted up on state property at Carraway Boulevard and 5th Avenue North.

On Wednesday, about a dozen skateboarders were utilizing the do-it-yourself skate park, vaulting their boards and bodies into the air and performing tricks as a homeless man under blankets snoozed just a few feet away. The park, still under construction, is located under one of the I-59/20 bridges on Carraway Boulevard next to a “State Property No Trespassing” sign.

A skateboard uses a quarter-pipe at the do-it-yourself skateboard park in downtown Birmingham.

To the Birmingham skateboarding community, the do-it-yourself project was necessary and the risk of getting shutdown worthwhile. An ALDOT spokeswoman said the agency is aware of the park and that it won’t impact construction of the bridges.

Skateboarders who spoke to AL.com said the city has ignored their needs. They said the skateboarding area in Railroad Park is inadequate and a safety concern.

A skate park “would be the most amazing thing because it would generate so much revenue. People would come out of town, they would spend money on hotels, restaurants, drop their kids out [to the park] knowing it’s a safe environment. Money, money, money, spending money – what Birmingham needs,” said Zach, a 24-year-old Birmingham skateboarder who declined to give AL.com his last name for fear of getting in trouble with authorities.

“Birmingham doesn’t need anything else except No. 1, a skate park [and No.] 2, pizza by the slice," Zach said. "Then people could live more affordably instead of getting run out of here.”

Zach says Birmingham has neglected the city's skateboarding community.

Skateboarders deliberately chose the Carraway Boulevard park site. Jay Shunnarah, a 25-year-old unemployed skateboarder from Birmingham, said city police can’t close down the park because it’s on state property. A spokeswoman for the city could not be reached for comment.

Without the park, Birmingham’s skateboarders would have to trek to Tuscaloosa, Shunnarah said.

“We can’t afford to drive that far every day to skateboard,” he said, adding “all of us, the real skateboarders, skateboard every day.”

Birmingham’s skateboarding community has built about 15 to 20 skate parks in the city since 1995, according to Shunnarah.

“Every time we get a good one and get it stabilized the city comes and tears it down,” he said.

Faith Skate Supply, a Birmingham shop popular with the city’s skateboarders, had helped the community in previous skating projects, including one that has since been torn down near the shop at 1201 2nd Ave. North.

Energy drink company Red Bull, which sponsors professional skateboarders and is a popular brand among enthusiasts, provided $2,000 worth of concrete to the project, the skateboarders said. The donation is part of “Red Bull DIY 2019,” the company’s monthlong project in three Southern cities – Birmingham, Nashville and New Orleans. Construction is expected to end on the Carraway park on April 20, when Red Bull is hosting a “celebratory jam day” at the site.

While the city had skateboarders in mind when Railroad Park was constructed with three bowls for performing tricks and skating, the community said the amenity was poorly designed.

“There’s literally a walking path that goes in the middle of it where people get tripped up all the time or some innocent bystander gets hurt because they don’t know where they’re going or they don’t keep their eyes open,” said Zach, a native of Montgomery who works at a shop that applies custom wraps for vehicles. “As sketchy as it sounds, being under a bridge and away from everything – in comparison to being at Railroad Park in the middle of a public walkway – it’s more safe.”

But the skateboarders conceded they were trading one safety concern for another, with their go-to spot frequented by the homeless and drug addicts, although they said they don’t use the park late at night. Still, Zach said the group takes care of their neighbors and there have not been any problems so far.

“We’ve done our part to connect and communicate with the squatters and the homeless around us. It’s like, ‘Hey, scratch our back and we’ll scratch yours,’” Zach said. “We give them water and snacks and donate clothes and all this good stuff. We’re trying to give back, and it’s like, ‘Watch out for us and we’ll watch out for you.’”

Demolishing the old I-59/20 bridges presented the city with a redevelopment opportunity called Birmingham CityWalk, a one-mile linear park still in the planning stages. A “world-class skate park” was among the popular ideas during public input sessions held last year for the project, but Birmingham skateboarders aren’t holding their breath.

“Every time there’s been an ounce of hope, it’s just been shot down, so we’ve pretty much been trained to constantly get let down,” Zach said.

The Montgomery native said the city is “slacking” because “they haven’t actually jumped on the opportunity to actually make money off us.”

For now, the skaters are content with their do-it-yourself project. But they’re crossing their fingers that the state won’t tear it down.

“We just got to hope for the best,” Shunnarah said.