For five summers now, people have been able to rent pedal-powered Model T bicycles and ride them around Headwaters Park.

For the owners of Model T Bicycle Rentals, there have been plenty of obstacles. Originally there was difficulty in finding an oversized insurance policy for their bikes. Then there was resistance to their operating out of the park. Thieves stole some of their equipment, and their business was vandalized another time. Plus, every July they got kicked out of the park for nearly two weeks to make room for Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival events.

Five years later, the little business is still alive – and facing yet another challenge.

People who rented the curious-looking bikes could ride them around the east side of Headwaters Park, get to the west side of the park by crossing Clinton at the pedestrian light, and make their way back by using a path that went under the bridge.

Soon, though, work on expanding the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge is set to begin, and the path under the bridge will be closed.

Instead of whining, though, Model T Rental’s owner, Gina Burgess, has decided to do what she originally intended to do when the Model T idea was hatched. She’ll rent her vehicles for an hour and give customers a map that will let them explore downtown using double-wide sidewalks and bike lanes.

In 2003, Model T’s parent company, Recreational Rentals, put together a book called “Discover Downtown” and planned to let people pedal the carriages in an area bordered by the St. Marys River, Broadway, Jefferson Boulevard and Lafayette Street.

That plan got sidetracked by the insurance issue, and by the time the business was ready to roll, the book was outdated.

That’s why the business has been limited to the park.

So starting today (Burgess hopes; there was still a festival display sitting in her spot at the park Tuesday) customers will be able to ride the Model T bicycles to tour much of the downtown instead of just the park.

“We’re excited,” Burgess said. “It was our original plan. Now our equipment is paid off, so we can try something different. We’ve wanted to do it for a long time.

“But we have no choice,” Burgess said.

What worries Burgess is that after construction begins and some traffic lanes are closed, people will get the idea the park is closed.

That sounds a little silly. Parks don’t close, except when they’re underwater. But traffic at the park has been down, Burgess said, because people have seen lane restrictions on Clinton and gotten the idea that activities at the park had been canceled.

That might be a bit far-fetched. But a visit to the park this week made me wonder why anyone would want to go there, at least right now. Tractor-trailer rigs and a handful of packed-up rides were still scattered around the park, and virtually everywhere the grass was dead, in some places completely worn away.

No question, the Fort Wayne Newspapers Three Rivers Festival takes a toll on the park, and the coming construction, path closures and lane restrictions are sure to draw attention away from the park.

Not to worry, said Geoff Paddock, executive director of the Headwaters Park Alliance.

“To be honest, we go through this every year,” Paddock said. Sprinklers are turned off for the festival and the grass gets no water for two weeks. Thousands of people trample the grass, and in the end the place looks pretty sad.

“We’re used to it,” Paddock said. “It’s built to take a lot of wear and tear.”

Contactors will be hired to reseed, sod and fertilize the park.

“You’ll see a remarkable change in a few weeks,” Paddock said.

In the meantime, people who rent the Model Ts can see what else the downtown has to offer.