South Austin’s newest trail is under construction. Will the Trump administration help pay for it?

An abandoned railroad line in South Austin is being converted into a trail for pedestrians and cyclists, with the first section set to open next year.

But uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants has cast doubt on how much of the bill the feds will cover and whether the city will have to shift money away from other planned trails.

Construction kicked off after the holidays on the project known as the Bergstrom Spur Trail, a 6.5-mile pathway stretching from near St. David’s South Austin Medical Center almost to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The city secured $4.1 million in federal funding for the first phase of construction, thanks to earmarks from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. And U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, secured $500,000 for the central portion of the trail.

Last week, Austin submitted a new federal grant application, hoping to secure millions more to complete the project. The estimated construction costs span from $12 million to $18 million.

If the request is denied, the project would still move forward, but at the cost of other trails in the pipeline.

The Bergstrom Spur railroad line was built in the early 1940s to supply the Air Force base that would eventually become Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999. The tracks have sat unused since 1993, but city officials have long seen the east-west corridor as a prime candidate for alternative transportation.

“This is the top of the city’s urban trails priority list,” said John Eastman, who oversees sidewalks and urban trails at Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department.

“This provides a really great set of connectivity into areas that really are historically underserved in terms of access to transit, access to trails and greenways,” he said. “If you look through this kind of southeast corridor just south of 71, there’s just not a lot of good connectivity in an east-west direction.”

The deserted railroad line crosses major roads including South First Street, South Congress Avenue and the I-35 frontage roads, cutting through residential neighborhoods, behind strip malls and light industrial areas that are home to a growing number of breweries and distilleries. More than 40 bus stops are within a half mile of the tracks, including the South Congress Transit Center.

“We have been collaborating to make sure that all the connections work and that we understand where the trail is going to be so that we can make sure our bus stops are in the right place,” Capital Metro CEO Dottie Watkins told KUT News.

The first section of the trail, a 1.12-mile stretch from Vinson Drive to South Congress, is fully funded, with the federal government covering 80 percent of the cost and the city paying the remaining 20 percent.

“I’ve requested money about three or four times, and we finally got the dollars in hand to encourage the city to move forward on the project,” Doggett said.

But the remaining miles of the trail still lack secured funding. Austin officials submitted a new grant application last week for a BUILD Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, asking for up to $20 million to complete the trail and give a boost to Capital Metro’s public transit infrastructure.

A previous grant application in 2022 was rejected, but Eastman said federal officials indicated the proposal had been close to winning. City officials refined and resubmitted the request.

Adding to the uncertainty is President Donald Trump’s executive order freezing federal grants, a sweeping move that triggered multiple lawsuits. While courts have blocked the freeze for now, long-term funding approvals remain uncertain as agencies scramble to align with Trump’s new spending priorities.

If Austin’s latest grant application is denied, the city would have to pay for the remainder itself, which could delay other planned trail projects.

“We have sufficient funds available out of the bond,” Eastman said, referring to $80 million for urban trails included in a $460 million bond approved by voters in 2020. “But it would put some other trail projects potentially on the back burner.”

Austin officials are looking for indications about which grant programs could be permanently affected under the new administration.

“Day-by-day we’re kind of trying to watch the federal government,” said Council Member Paige Ellis, who chairs a panel of City Council members focused on transportation issues. “But we know that people support their dollars being used wisely and we want to make sure that we’re advocating for Texas dollars to be spent in Texas.”

Regardless of where the money comes from, the head of the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department, Richard Mendoza, told KUT News the Bergstrom Spur Trail is on track for completion in 2027.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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