City seeks to clear way for the Salado Creek connector by late 2022

It's a whinny and a neigh! Horses will soon be moved to newly built paddocks so that the way can be cleared for the construction of the greenway trail through the military installation that will serve as a connector of the Salado-north and Salado-south greenway trails. Brandon Ross, the project manager for the greenway trails, said, "We’re hoping to have official permission in November from JBSA to build the paddocks and move the horses." He said that the paddock relocation is set to take place in mid-2022 and construction of the trail hopefully later in the same year.

Over the last four years, the project had been stalled due to the city and Army officials not reaching an agreement. It will require tearing down 26 small stables that are situated on the other side of a fence and replacing them with new paddocks in another location and moving the fence. The greenway is approximately 10 feet (3 m) wide and the DoD calls for a 20-foot (6-meter) easement which means that the fence must be moved 30 feet (9 m). Engineering plans have been completed in late 2017. They had hoped to begin construction during spring 2018.

Once the connection is completed, it will make the Salado Creek Greenway the longest-running trail on the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System, a distance of 31 miles (50 km), running between Eisenhower Park and South Side Lions Park.

The new trail will cross over Binz-Engleman Road and continue along the tracks to a trestle. From the trestle, the trail will be routed to the Salado South Greenway at its Jack White Park trailhead, located at 3781 Seguin Rd.

—SRR News Services