Bexar County has joined an effort to develop a planned 100-mile trail between the Texas Capitol and the Alamo — with a stop at the Hays Street Bridge on the East Side of San Antonio.
Bexar County commissioners directed staff to work with the organizers of the Great Springs Project to develop a greenway trail connecting the historic bridge to the Salado Creek Greenway Trail.
Connecting the trails “resonates strongly” with County Judge Peter Sakai’s vision to redevelop the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum, stated county documents, as the San Antonio Spurs prepare to vacate the area for a new downtown arena.
The plan to create a 100-mile network of hike-and-bike trails connecting San Antonio to Austin by 2036 is in the corridor study planning phase, said Garry Merritt, CEO of the nonprofit Great Springs Project.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is funding the study, he said.
The vision for the trail systems was outlined in a 200-page plan in April 2022. The project would be the first of its kind in the state and would link the four major springs of Central Texas: San Antonio, Comal, San Marcos and Barton Springs.
The Great Springs Project aims to preserve open space over the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer, the region’s largest source of water and the origin of all four springs. The initial plan estimates that, once complete, the network could generate close to $10 million a year in economic benefit for Bexar County and almost $56 million annually for the entire corridor region.
The project team is collaborating with various groups to plan and build out the network, including those who work in the land trust and trail planning organizations as well as the leaders of 10 cities and five counties, and some private landowners, Merritt said.
“We met with the folks from the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo,” to learn how trails could be a component of the rodeo and surrounding neighborhoods, he said.
Other TxDOT studies being used to plan the network include a bike tourism study, the 2019 Capital-Alamo Connections Study, other regional planning studies and work by the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, he said.
The corridor study will take about 18 months to complete and involve soliciting input from stakeholders and community groups to come up with a schematic design and an implementation strategy.
“We’re an organization with a big vision,” Merritt said. But, “we’re talking about a trail that’s a segment that’s two miles long, or a mile long, or five miles long, and there are a lot of reasons that people are interested in that.”
Recreational opportunities are at the top of the list, he said, but the organization is also focused on Edwards Aquifer protection, quality of life, workforce development and economic and transportation benefits.
Sakai and the commissioners voted to endorse the project and initiate a collaborative effort to study the development of a segment on the East Side of San Antonio.
A draft map that Merritt presented during Tuesday’s commissioner’s court meeting shows a trail created between the East Side Greenway, a 2022 city bond project, along Hays Street to the Menger Creek Linear Park and from there to the Salado Creek Greenway.
The Salado Creek Greenway spans to the South Side and also north where it would connect with other trails, like the 8-mile Great Northern Trail in Schertz, and the Great Springs Project.
But Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores (Pct. 1) wanted to know how the project specifically would go behind the Alamo and connect to the South Side.
“As usual, things stop and they don’t go further down south into my precinct,” she said. “If we’re going to do this from the Capitol, then it needs to also reach into the South Side.”
Merritt assured Clay-Flores that the project would connect to other trails that extend to the planned Arboretum San Antonio, 4226 S.E. Military Dr., and other assets in the precinct, including the San Antonio River.
Commissioner Justin Rodriguez (Pct. 2) asked about funding for the project which, in 2020 former Mayor Phil Hardberger said would likely need federal assistance due to its magnitude.
“Every trail project has unique characteristics, and one of those characteristics is how fundable it is and what the sources of funding could be,” Merritt said.
“Certainly we’re seeing today that there are sources of funding for projects like this that may not be available, maybe not for a while, maybe not ever,” he added. “Five years ago, there was a different set of circumstances.”
Plans to bring the Great Springs Project through the East Side could be seen as delivering much-desired economic development to the area as Project Marvel redirects development to downtown.
Sakai said the vote Tuesday sets in motion a study of whether the project is viable. “It is obviously going to require a city and county joint initiative … I’m excited by the possibilities that this project brings.”
