SAN ANTONIO --Lorena Cadena and Marie Sabota just ran the gauntlet: making a quick sprint through a crosswalk while traffic streamed by at 60 miles an hour.
“Vehicles fly through here,” said Laura Matthews. Matthews, a cyclist herself, watched the pair from a safe distance as the bikers completed a ride within the city’s celebrated Salado Creek Greenway.
The trail provides a picturesque ride or walk that stretches nearly 20-miles along Salado Creek and then, dead-ends into traffic as it approaches McAllister Park on the city’s north east side.
“Usually you can just push the buttons and the light would change. But now it’s kind of dangerous,” said Cadena.
Cadena points to a light protecting pedestrians that no longer works, replaced by a construction zone. Sabota said it’s too dangerous.
“And you just wait for the traffic to break and pray that nobody is slamming on their gas, and make a run for it,” said Sabota.
The Texas Department of Transportation said the work will continue for six months-- part of improvements to the Wurzbach Parkway. That has some trail riders rethinking their activity in the outdoors.
“We don’t want to say don’t run or walk in that area or ride your bike in that area, but it’s an unsafe area right now,” said Tx-Dot spokesperson Laura Lopez.
In a city trying to “GET FIT” with new hike and bike trails connecting city parks, this connection, according to Lopez, is one that won’t last long anyway.
When construction is done, Tx-Dot said it is closing the crosswalk permanently: severing the line so that the highway can run unimpeded.
