BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A new phase of a three-mile trail from the Palo Alto Battlefield National Park to Los Fresnos was unveiled a day before a border war between the United States and Mexico began back in 1846.
The $2.5 million extension is part of the Caracara Trails, which is a 428-mile network linking the natural, cultural and historical resources of the area.
The cost included working around a drainage ditch the Texas Department of Transportation stipulated had to be raised to street level.
Rose Gowen, a city commissioner at large, said the trail has a two-fold purpose.
One is to provide a place for people to exercise.
“We have one of the highest rates of diabetes – more than twice the national average,” she said. “The second one is for people who are not from here – the tourists.”
Daniel Ibarra, the park’s acting superintendent, touted the health and economic benefits since the trail project began a couple of years ago.
He said quite a few recreational visitors have been showing up ever since then.
Brownsville Mayor John Cowen credited Gowen for her dedication to provide a healthy venue for people from here and elsewhere.
“This is not going to stop here,” he said. “On the contrary, it will continue.”
Gowen predicted the whole trail project will take place even if takes a couple of years to complete.
Mark Milum, Los Fresnos city manager, said the one-mile extension is the last one before the trail will connect the two cities.
Once the phase is complete, there still is another mile gap to connect the two.
Milum said the trail is to go by the Lions Club building at the Los Fresnos rodeo arena and then towards Tenth Street.
“Once completed,” he said, “people could go from Los Fresnos all way to Mexico (the border line).”
A groundbreaking of the trail extension was held on Tuesday, May 7, or the day before the war with Mexico began on May 8, 1846.
After the war ended, the northern half of Mexico became the south-western third of the United States, according to a map of the “Border War,’’ posted along another park’s trail.
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