Georgetown accepts grant to extend San Gabriel River Trail

City Council accepted a $200,000 matching grant from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department on Jan. 24 that will go toward the extension of San Gabriel River Trail.

Texas Parks & Wildlife awarded the National Recreation Trails grant to the city in May, Parks and Recreation Director Kimberly Garrett said, but the trail had to go through further reviews before Texas Parks & Wildlife could award the contract, which it did in December. The city then approved the funds Jan. 24.

The city will use 2008 bond money to fund its portion of the project, which will extend the trail about 1 mile from Blue Hole Park along Scenic Drive to 17th Street near Carver Elementary School.

San Gabriel River Trail is 6.6 miles long and connects to Georgetown's trail system. A map of the trail is available at https://files.georgetown.org/files/2009/04/Updated-Hike-Bike-Trail-Map.pdf.

Garrett said the trail will be constructed in stages, but the $1.2 million project is expected to be finished in 2012.

At the Jan. 24 regular City Council meeting, council members chose Baker-Aicklen & Associates as the architect for the project. Support Services Manager Terry Jones said a fee proposal and contract would probably be brought to the next City Council meeting.