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City approves funds for hike & bike trail, Whipple Road sidewalk

  • Updated: July 23, 2020
Whipple Road will soon have a sidewalk once an engineering company is hired and a bid is awarded for the project. Photo: Tony Vindell / LFN

By TONY VINDELL
LFN

LOS FRESNOS – A project to build a hike & bike trail in the city of Los Fresnos took another big step forward to becoming a reality as funding was approved for the outdoor project.

The Community Development Corp. gave the green light for approval of the project at its July 6 board meeting, allocating a little more than $132,000 for the project. A week later the Los Fresnos City Commission approved an equal amount, bringing the total to more than $264,000 to fund the project.

The fund is part of a larger investment as other organizations such as the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department have also made commitments.

The trail will be built east of the Los Fresnos Nature Park and will eventually be connected to miles of another trail that will go past the Palo Alto National Battlefield Historical Park and to downtown Brownsville.

In other action, the commission approved a package to repair East Street from Arroyo Boulevard to Pitta Street.

Los Fresnos City Manager Mark Milum said they have already allocated $30,000 for the street project and will need another $35,000 to get it done.

City Commissioner Juan Munoz wanted to know if the city would be required to borrow money for that, but Milum said no as the capital will come from the general fund.

The council also approved hiring an engineer to build a sidewalk along Whipple Road. Milum said they have been looking into this for several years and would like to have a sidewalk for safety purposes.

He said TXDOT has a project in the works to build a new road there, but it will take at least three years before that happens. In the meantime, Milum said it would be wise to have a sidewalk because foot traffic along parts of Whipple Road has been an issue due to the narrow road.

Finally, the council also appointed a new member to the Planning and Zoning Commission. He is Gordon Cappon.