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popular shopping and dining ame - nity, past a handful of schools, small lakes and parks, and then south to Palm Boulevard. Instead of traffic, the cacophony of parrots and other subtropical birds can be heard in the corridor as well as the mooing of cows in the fields along its more rural northern sections. “The trail is going to bring so many positive things to the community,” enthused Gowen, who was support - ive of the project since the beginning. “Equity and accessibility and health all wrapped up in economic growth.” The West Rail Trail will also play an integral part in the city’s connect - ed trail loop, which loosely forms a rectangle. It parallels another rail-trail—the Historic Battlefield Trail—and the two longer trails will be connected by the short arms of the rectangle comprising the Belden Trail and the Morrison Road Trail. This trail system is tucked inside an even more expansive network, the 428-mile Caracara Trails, a Rails- to-Trails Conservancy TrailNation™ project that aims to connect com - munities all across the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Although the trail is not anticipated to officially open until September 2022, Gowen noted that people are already “itching to get on it,” with curious neighbors taking exploratory outings to check out its construction. “I feel like neighbors are going to start getting to know each other much better,” said Sanchez. “You want closeness in a community. You’re going to meet new people on the trail, and I think that’s wonderful.” •
PHOTO: The former rail line on which the West Rail Trail will run was active in western Brownsville for a century; its most recent owner, Union Pacific Railroad, transferred the corridor to Cameron County.
Learn more about the Caracara Trails, a 428-mile trail network connecting communities across Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley, and the area’s rich natural, cultural and historical resources: caracaratrails.org .
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Laura Stark serves as senior editor of Rails to Trails magazine and the TrailBlog ( railstotrails.org/ trailblog ).
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Learn more: facebook.com/WestRailTrail .
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