“Walk for a day” on future cross-county trail

“Walk for a day” on future cross-county trail

Written by Christi Covington Thursday, 08 May 2008

Bikers and hikers get ready.

Austin A trail connecting 34 miles of Travis and Hays counties from Barton Springs Pool to the Onion Creek Preserve is set to begin construction within the next year as the longest contiguous trail in Central Texas. The “Walk for a Day” project will run mostly through city property.

“I think getting people out on the land and getting them to enjoy it more, they get greater appreciation for where the city has spent their tax dollars,” said George Cofer, executive director of Hill Country Conservancy.

HCC, a nonprofit preservation group, has spearheaded the project and first announced its development last November. By the end of this year, Cofer plans to finish acquiring permission for property easements to build the trail, so construction can begin by 2009.

Only a few pieces are still missing because in February the city purchased a 1,500-acre tract of Hays County land for water quality, using bonds passed in 1998 and 2006 to preserve the recharge zone. The connection was a vital segment for the trail to be built and the city plans to give an easement for trail use, Cofer said.

“Once the city got this piece, that really connected them where they own all this to Hwy. 150 in Kyle,” he said. “What we have been calling unofficially the rural segment of the trail is owned by the city, which took 10 years and more than $100 million to accomplish,” he said.

The city has also agreed to give easements of several other large lots owned by the water utility, as well as some other properties designated as parkland that are closer to the city core.

Next steps

A route for the trail is still conceptual because the city must decide where hikers and bikers will not harm what are considered environmentally sensitive lands. Water from the Edwards Aquifer, which is used for drinking water, flows into the recharge zone marked by its porous, “Swiss Cheese limestone,” caves and sinkholes. All the caves, crevices and tunnels lead the water to Barton Springs, which supplies some of the city’s drinking water.

City Manager Marc Ott appointed a multi-departmental group of city staff this spring, led by former council member Daryl Slusher who now works with the water utility department, to oversee planning the project.

Although HCC has been coordinating the project with all the different entities involved, including private landowners, Hays County and the City of Austin, Cofer said he thinks the city will ultimately manage the trail.

Another option is a trail authority with several jurisdictions represented might take that role. The funding of the operations and maintenance is something the Hill Country Conservancy is committed to raising as an endowment. Initial building costs are estimated between $5 million to $10 million with project completion tentatively scheduled to take place in five to 10 years.

By request

Austin Parks Foundation executive director Charlie McCabe has also been involved with and supported the Walk for a Day project. He said it is what residents have said they wanted, pointing to surveys conducted every five years by the City of Austin and Travis County concerning park uses. Since 1995, the answer is the same.

“No. 1 for all three surveys is basically trails or the equivalent, meaning it could be sidewalks, it could be bike lanes, places to walk, hike, bike, throw your kid in the stroller and jog behind him—the No. 1 amenity,” McCabe said.

He points to 1995 as the year when regional trail interest began to grow. Several park groups got together and created a vision map, which would encompass not only Austin and Travis County, but all of Central Texas, including Bastrop, Hays and Williamson counties.

“I think that is the bigger picture that I get excited about,” Cofer said. “The Walk for a Day trail is one piece of the regional trail vision.”

Both Cofer and McCabe applaud the efforts of the Oak Hills Trail Association, which was formed in 2005 as a result of neighborhood planning efforts, to help expand its own local trail system.

The association has six major projects it is focusing on at this time, including one that will go from the Y in Oak Hill to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, said Rick Perkins, the group’s vice chair.

They want to build trails through private-public lands, which has slowed the process, but they are receiving support from city leaders such as Council Member Brewster McCracken, according to Perkins.

“It’s not hard making a trail, once we get permission,” Perkins said.

Bike bridge

Another added element that McCabe expects will add desirability to both the Walk for a Day project and the YBC trail is the city’s promise of a bridge for bikers that will give north-south access across the busy intersection of MoPac and Capital of Texas Highway. The city has half of the estimated $4 million project cost, with the Austin Parks Foundation receiving donations to help.

“What [the city is] trying to do is stitch together the rest of the funding,” McCabe said. “Honestly, that they are already half way is really, really promising. So they are talking with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which controls TxDOT spending in our area. They are looking at other federal funding allocations. What we’re helping with is raising funds via private [means].”

The engineering design should take place this next year, McCabe said. He expects the project will begin in 2011.