Galen Scott
gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com
City of Weatherford leaders are moving forward with plans to purchase right of way needed for a new hike and bike trail along Town Creek.
The path is slated to begin at the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce and run along Town Creek before splitting: The eastern fork will end at Holland Lake Park, and the western option will stop at Bose Ikard Elementary School.
In order to allow safe pedestrian crossing, the red light in front of the Chamber of Commerce is supposed to be synchronized with the hiking trail.
Plans for trail heads at each of the three termini include a combination of attractive sitting areas, bike racks and information kiosks.
Terry Hughes, the city’s director of community development, is hoping to break ground next spring. Hughes described the right-of-way acquisition process as time consuming because much of the land is owned by Union Pacific Railroad.
“Hopefully by mid-year we’ll be moving on this project,” Hughes told city councilmembers during a work session Tuesday.
According to this year’s budget, the city set aside $2.6 million for the Town Creek Trail Project.
The city was awarded a $3.4 million transportation project grant in 2002. Because the hike and bike trail ties in with the old Santa Fe Depot (Chamber of Commerce), state and federal funds are expected to pay for 80 percent of the project’s cost.
Hughes said he expects the project to come in under budget, partly because original plans for a second railroad crossing were scrapped.
Extra safeguards needed where the second crossing was designed to pass beneath a trestle bridge would have cost an extra $600,000, according to Hughes.
Hughes warned councilmembers more than once about potential conflicts that could result from trail construction overlapping with an extension of South Denton Street, which currently stubs out a few hundred yards south of U.S. Highway 180.
A new bridge spanning Town Creek and the railroad will carry South Denton from Fort Worth Highway to an intersection with Santa Fe Drive near the Weatherford Police Department.
