‘Perfect Place’

Brownsville resident Elizabeth Escobedo had a first-hand look at history in the making.

She watched Southern Pacific Linear Park and Historic Battlefield Trail transform from a patchy field of grass and rocks to a park with a hike and bike trail, complete with benches and palm trees.

“It’s a perfect place” for children to ride their bikes safely, said Escobedo, 30, a mother of two who attended Thursday’s official dedication of the park and hike and bike trail that has been years in the making.

Escobedo lives on East Van Buren Street and is grateful that the city has embarked on another project to promote Brownsville.

“I think it’s great. It’s a place for kids and the families to spend together,” Escobedo said. “I’m real amazed by what they have done. There’s a lot of space for the kids.”

The Southern Pacific Linear Park and Historic Battlefield Trail project represents a roughly eight-year effort to transform the rail line’s tracks into public space.

“We have put our hearts and souls into this. It was an effort by a lot of people,” said Larry Brown, former city planner and now airport director. He acknowledged the contribution of transportation experts Mark Lund and Steve Walker.

Including required highway work, the cost of the project is about $11.3 million with $4.3 million from federal and state funding sources and $7 million from city coffers, officials said.

Mario R. Jorge, district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation’s Pharr office, said although the state agency works on numerous projects throughout the Rio Grande Valley, working on this project was very rewarding.

“You don’t get as much satisfaction as when you do these types of quality of life projects,” Jorge said.

The park bears the name of the railroad company because the area between Sixth and Seventh streets used to house the switchyard. Although the city bought the property from Union Pacific because it had merged with Southern Pacific by then, it bears the original name of the railway because it’s “historically accurate,” Brown said.

Brown said that efforts were focused on developing a project that would benefit the citizens, provide an attractive entrance to the downtown area, and serve as an anchor for cultural events.

“I envisioned a model that is similar to what that you see at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with the Capitol building, Washington Monument, the series of museums, and a large open area where you can have a picnic, jog and so on,” Brown said.

The Gladys Porter Zoo, Dean Porter Park and the Historic Brownsville Museum are nearby the new park.

“I think we were successful in converting what was an old, derelict switchyard into our own National Mall,” Brown said.

Costs of the Southern Pacific Linear Park and Historic Battlefield Trail

Phase I: park and trail $8.6 million.

Phase II: reconstruction at Paredes Line Road to incorporate the trail $1.6 million.

Phase III: incorporation of the trail at Farm Market Road 511, $1 million.

Federal and state sources have contributed about $4.3 million of the costs. The city’s portion is about $7 million.

Note: The two first phases are complete and the Texas Department of Transportation is requesting bids on the third phase.

SOURCE: City of Brownsville