CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi was awarded a grant back in October 2023 to build an ADA-accessible bike and walking path that would turn an abandoned train trestle into a scenic trail, connecting the Oso Bay Preserve to Flour Bluff. But since then, little progress has been made.
City leaders said the reason for the delay has been the need for an additional $1.3 million to fund the project’s design work.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, members were expected to vote on an ordinance that would allow the city to use interest earned from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover those design costs. But that vote never happened.
“There’s been some preliminary engineering work that was done with the Bond 2022 funding—they funded $500,000 in Bond '22,” Jeff Edmonds, the Director of Engineering Services for the City of Corpus Christi said. “So we can’t really start detailed design until we get this funding appropriated today.”
City Manager Peter Zanoni told council members the proposal needed more time and that some on the dais still had questions, prompting the item’s removal from the agenda.
One of the biggest public supporters of the project is Shirin Delsooz, a local biking advocate.
“It would be really amazing for families to have an afternoon where they're at this playground at this preserve and then they ride their bikes from here to the bridge and see the beautiful water,” Delsooz said. “So it could be a huge game changer in this city.”
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