Boerne River Road Park project on track to finish by end of February

A slice of park land in the Texas Hill Country has been barricaded off to visitors for several months, but Boerne River Road Park construction is nearing its final days. Despite heavy rains washing out some progress last weekend, city officials say the project is still on track to be done by the end of February.

Boerne, a town about 30 miles north of San Antonio on I-10, is known for its quaint charm and rolling hills. It’s also known as the gateway to the Texas Hill Country, depending on who you ask, and there’s a wide creek that runs right through the middle of town. Well, that creek has been without water since September, and it isn’t because of drought that’s plagued so many other rivers and streams.

Instead, city officials opted to drain the water and shutter the creek’s neighboring park for a bank stabilization project and other general improvements to Boerne River Road Park. However, the creek didn’t say empty the whole time. When heavy rains doused the Hill Country Saturday, February 10, the once-dry creek bed began to flow again — something construction contractors weren’t quite expecting.

“Since the beginning of the project our contractor and city staff have continuously monitored the weather forecast — especially when rainfall is anticipated. While the weather forecast did call for rain, the intensity was especially heavy during the 9 a.m. hour,” city officials said in a public statement. “As a result, water rose quickly within the creek even with the dam gate being open as it has been since the fall. The contractor did not anticipate such intense rain within such a short time frame and had left the equipment in the creek, as had been the practice throughout the project, in anticipation of upcoming earth work on the creek bank.”

As a result, pumps were used to eject the water back out of the creek this week. A spokesperson with the city told MySA the project is still slated for an end-of-February completion. So, it doesn’t seem like that bout of wet weather added any significant delay to plans.

“We have been in contact with our contractor, who has been on site this morning, and the equipment being used is designed to be self-contained and withstand weather conditions,” a city official said. “Additionally, we continue to work with our environmental consultant and Texas Parks and Wildlife as we have throughout the project.”

A city spokesperson told MySA that crews were back at work by Friday afternoon, February 16.

Editor’s note: One of the photos in this story had an old caption that referred to grant funds for a former project. The caption has been updated.