HARLINGEN — After nearly two years of delays, construction of the $1.6 million second phase of the Arroyo Colorado Hike and Bike Trail is nearing completion as officials plan to turn the city’s trail systems into a cycling destination.
More than 20 years after the Hike and Bike Trail opened, crews are wrapping up the 1.6-mile stretch winding from Arroyo Park to Dixieland Park while crossing three bridges, extending the six-foot-wide asphalt ribbon into a 3.7 mile-span running to McKelvey Park.
Meanwhile, officials are planning to promote the city’s system of trails, including a 10-mile mountain bike trail, as an attraction as they work to hold a state championship race set for October.
“Our trails are a tourist attraction,” Mayor Norma Sepulveda said April 12. “This is a destination city. We’d like Harlingen to become the next destination for health and wellness. We have a lot of green space for people who like to hike and bike. We want our community to be more active.”
Long-awaited second phase
During a meeting, Javier Mendez, the city’s parks director, estimated crews will complete construction on the Hike and Bike Trail’s second phase in about 45 days.
After launching the project in early 2021, officials planned to complete the second phase within six months, he told city commissioners and members of the Harlingen Community Improvement Board during a joint meeting March 30.
But the project’s been racked with delays, he said, referring to the second phase funded through a $1.2 million grant from the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation and $487,362 from the improvement board funded through a one-eighth-cent sales tax earmarked to finance quality of life projects.
“We had a lot of delays in the project — weather, they had issues with their subcontractors, materials, and so on,” Mendez said.
As part of the project, Boggus Ford donated land on which the city built the trail’s $157,000 parking lot.
Our trails are a tourist attraction. This is a destination city. We’d like Harlingen to become the next destination for health and wellness. We have a lot of green space for people who like to hike and bike. We want our community to be more active.
Mountain bike destination
Meanwhile, city officials including Mendez and Assistant City Manager Craig Cook are back from Bentonville, Ark., where they took part in an April 5-7 seminar in the city that’s become an international mountain biking destination.
“Bentonville is the mountain bike capital of the world,” Cook said. “In Bentonville, people come from all over the world to ride their trails.”
Taking tips from Bentonville’s seminar, officials are helping members of the Valley Off-Road Bicycling Association, a local mountain biking group, build new features along the city’s 10-mile mountain bike course as they plan to hold their second Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association state championship race set for Oct. 13-15.
“It was training to build mountain bike trails,” Cook said, referring to the seminar. “We want to make the trail a little more interesting. You want features in your trail to attract bicyclists of all skill levels. We can do dirt-banked turn-arounds or covered asphalt. We think more people will come.”
Last year, the big race drew about 200 racers from Texas and parts of Mexico, organizers said.
We want to promote Harlingen as a bicycling vacation area — you can ride year round. The beauty of the trail is that it’s in the center of town. We’ve got a real unique trail system and topography that allows us to do some real great projects.
For more than 15 years, David Hernandez has been riding the arroyo’s steep dirt banks.
In 2017, Henry Roberts, the late founder of Bicycle World, launched a project to build the city’s mountain bike trails along the arroyo’s high embankments.
Ever since, Hernandez, the Valley Off-Road Bicycling Association’s founder and president, has been working with the group’s members to carve the trails.
“We want to know what Harlingen can do to replicate what Bentonville has done,” Hernandez, an Apple executive, said.
“There’s going to be a lot of momentum coming out of this,” he said of the visit to Bentonville. “We want to promote Harlingen as a bicycling vacation area — you can ride year round. The beauty of the trail is that it’s in the center of town. We’ve got a real unique trail system and topography that allows us to do some real great projects.”
Drawing hikers, bikers
Now, officials are planning to market the city’s trails system including the Arroyo Colorado Hike and Bike Trail and the mountain trail as a tourist destination.
“We want to promote it,” City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said. “There aren’t that many trails in the Valley like that. It promotes health, being outside and doing exercise.”
Everyday, the city’s trails draw about 50 to 100 hikers and bikers, Hernandez said.
“The popularity is increasing as more cyclists get away from roads and cars — it provides protection,” he said, referring to the trails. “I’ve seen more people on road bikes and hybrid bikes and a lot of kids on bikes and families on bikes. There are hikers, strollers, people walking.”
Phase 3
In 2000, the city opened the Hike and Bike Trail’s first stretch, running 2.1 miles across winding banks, crossing three bridges, from McKelvey Park to Arroyo Park.
Soon, the second phase will extend the trail 3.7 miles to McKelvey Park.
Now, officials are planning the trail’s third phase — a 1.1-mile span from McKelvey Park to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park.
As part of the project, the state’s Department of Transportation gave the city a $141,568 grant to design the span, with the city funding $37,632 of the total cost.
The stretch will lead to the trail’s most remote areas, running along the arroyo’s narrower, woodier banks to Hugh Ramsey Nature Park, a site of the World Birding Center, which draws hundreds of eco-tourists every year.
Officials haven’t set the project’s timetable, Cook said.
I’ve seen more people on road bikes and hybrid bikes and a lot of kids on bikes and families on bikes. There are hikers, strollers, people walking.
Background
The Hike and Bike Trail’s part of the city’s 2010 Master Trails Plan calling for about 10 construction projects featuring more than 40 miles of trails winding across the city.
The goal — to link all of the city’s parks while also connecting neighborhoods, schools and business areas.
As part of the master plan, officials envision a network of trails connecting the city’s parks and retail centers, linking Texas State Technical College to bicycle routes while giving birders and nature buffs scenic sites along parts of the World Birding Center at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park.
