Construction coming along on Ross Park water slide

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - A new attraction at the Ross Park Aquatic Complex is going just swimmingly.

Construction of the complex's new water slide is making some significant progress, with its multi-story staircase already finished and the rest of the slide pieces anticipated to go up in the upcoming days.

"Progress is going really quickly now that the slide is coming to town," Recreation Manager Stacie VanKirk said. "They are kind of expecting within six days, we will see the whole slide erected. But then we still have to do quite a few things to get it to be operational."

When you see what is used to look like to what is going up at the moment, the experience will be quite different.

"This slide will be pretty different from the tube that we had before," VanKirk said. "We'll have a two slide option. One will be open, and one will be closed. In the one that's closed, it will be translucent. So when you're going down, you'll see flashes of light."

VanKirk says getting a replacement for the old slide was a priority for the City for years.

"I think it's very, very important," VanKirk said. "People miss the old one, but that had been here and served its time. And so it was time to get a new one. We went I think five years without one, so it's time to have a slide back."

Vankirk says attendance at the pool has been good this summer, despite some low peaks during the cold weather the past couple of days. But with the addition of the slide, the pool may close on a high note.

"We are definitely shooting to get it open at some time this summer, maybe late July, early August would be the probably the latest," VanKirk said. "I do expect that we'll see some slide time in the summer."