The creation of the Spirit Reach, a proposed new stretch of the River Walk that would wind through the University of the Incarnate Word’s campus and include the headwaters of the San Antonio River, is a go once again, following the project’s temporary suspension at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic.
The project, named for the sacredness the spot holds to native populations and modern-day residents, will proceed under a recent agreement signed by the organizations that oversee the San Antonio River and its headwaters.
The Spirit Reach will extend the River Walk by connecting to the existing Museum Reach, which itself is part of the 13-mile San Antonio River Improvements Project, completed in 2014. Discussions surrounding the creation of the Spirit Reach began in 2020 after the land around the San Antonio River’s headwaters became protected under a conservation easement.
Located just behind UIW’s sports fields, the Headwaters Sanctuary, as it’s known, is managed by the nonprofit Headwaters at Incarnate Word, and is open to the public.
A memorandum of understanding signed by officials from the San Antonio River Authority, UIW, the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and the Headwaters at Incarnate Word last fall allows the river authority to act as project manager for the construction of the Spirit Reach.
While the project was approved prior to the pandemic, design planning ground to a halt as attention and funding shifted to pandemic relief efforts.
Design planning has now begun, with the help of funds from the county, city and river authority, said river authority senior engineer Collen Brownlow, who will be leading the project.
“Our next step is to get a team of designers and surveyors to go out there,” Brownlow said.
It took about six months of negotiation for the groups to reach an agreement, he said. The river authority’s next steps are to actively engage stakeholders and interested parties to get input on the design; doing so is a requirement of the MOU. Brownlow said a process for getting that input has yet to be developed.
The Spirit Reach will have two trails, one leading to the Blue Hole, the spring that is the source of the San Antonio River, and one leading to the Headwaters Sanctuary. On the other side of the Blue Hole, a hike and bike path with increasing elevation will run along U.S. 281 and over Olmos Dam.
Brownlow said the trail will highlight the history of Blue Hole and the origins of the San Antonio River. It also will be a part of the Great Springs Project, which aims to connect the four major springs of Central Texas: San Antonio, Comal, San Marcos and Barton springs.
Design for the project could also include an environmental review, archaeological review, an interpretative plan, a hydraulic study and other relevant studies, the MOU states.
Brownlow said construction of the Spirit Reach could begin by fall of 2024.
