Grant funds will go to fixing trail
Texas department approves $131,000 for Spring Lake Park
Long-planned work on the Spring Lake Park trail will begin soon, after state and federal government reviews delayed grant funding for more than two years.
The Texarkana, Texas, Parks and Recreation Department got word last week that it has access to almost $131,000 granted to pay for the trail project in June 2016. The city will use the money to renovate the 2,000-foot section of the Philip McDougal Trail that wraps around the park’s pond. Plans include repairing tree root damage and repaving with asphalt.
To avoid removing any trees, the city will build a new section of the trail, lengthening it by about 700 feet, Parks and Recreation Director Robby Robertson said.
A series of plaques that commemorate the park’s his- tory will be installed beside the trail. Visitors will be able to read about conquistador Hernando de Soto drinking from the location’s springs in 1541, Anthony L. Ghio’s initial development of the park grounds in 1887 and the zoo that opened there in 1960, among other facts.
Texas Parks and Wildlife approved the grant as part of more than $3.5 million in federal funding for 22 recreational trail projects across the state. Releasing Texarkana’s grant funds was delayed until late last month as the Federal Highway Administration and Texas Department of Transportation reviewed project plans.
Rules prohibited starting work on the project until the funds were available. If the city had proceeded and paid for the work, expecting reimbursement later, it would have forfeited the
grant, Robertson said.
The city’s next step is to hire an archaeologist to conduct a cultural resources survey of the work site, which is required by the Texas Historical Commission.
Such a survey is a “systematic method of documenting historic resources through fieldwork and research,” according to the THC website. Historic resources are defined as “districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering and culture.”
Conducting a cultural resources survey is a common part of construction projects with government funding, and the Spring Lake Park survey is not expected to cause any extraordinary delay, said David Orr, city director of planning and community development.
Parks and Recreation will solicit bids and hire a contractor for the trail project. Robertson declined to comment on when the work will be completed.
Work on the trail will complement last year’s dredging project, which increased the pond’s maximum depth from about 3 feet to about 10 feet, reinforced its sides with rock and added an ornamental flagstone edge.