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Former mayor of San Antonio, Phil Hardberger is working to bring a unique land bridge to one of San Antonio’s premier parks, Hardberger Park.
Because the park is actually split into two sections and divided by a high traffic street (Wurzbach Parkway), park goers can generally only get from one side to the other by car. Hardberger, as well as supporters from the Hardberger Conservancy would like to change this by building a wildlife land bridge, which would provide a natural path for both humans and wildlife to cross from one side to the other.
While land bridges are not too common in the US, they are much more common in Europe.
“I believe it will be done. I believe it can be done,” Hardberger said in a news article from the Rivard Report. “It might take five years to get it done. It’s a fair amount of money, and we will need corporate buy-in and probably public money. There’s even a possibility of some federal money. But most of the funds will have to come from private sources.”
To complete the mission of getting a land bridge for the this park, the Hardberger Conservancy will work with Hardberger’s former chief of staff, Larry Zinn as well as Massachusetts based architecture firm, Stephen Stimson Associates, to organize a community campaign to raise funds for the project.
In addition to serving those who frequent the park, Hardberger expects the bridge to serve as one of the city’s main tourist attractions.
“The number one question we get from people in the park is, ‘When do we get the land bridge?’ People love the park and they want the connection,” stated Betty Sutherland, executive director of the Hardberger Conservancy, in the Rivard Report. “We will raise funds the same way we’ve always done for Phil’s campaigns or other projects. It just seems that on any issue that Phil fights for, the leadership of this city trusts him and comes through with the necessary support.
Read more about this here.
By The Numbers
33
percent
of Latinos live within walking distance (<1 mile) of a park
