Texas State’s Bobcat Trail May Make Campus Travel Easier

By Bethany Perales
News Reporter

A project known as Bobcat Trail is the next big thing on the agenda for Texas State construction and improvements.

San Marcos is known for its beautiful hill country scenery and rivers. Facilities Associated Vice President Juan Guerra said that the upcoming Bobcat Trail installment will be between North LBJ Drive and Edward Gary Street and is intended to create a pedestrian mall to make it easier to travel across that part of campus.

“Also they won’t be competing with less trucks, cars and buses,” said Guerra. “Whether it will directly affect enrollment I am not sure, but (it’ll) surely affect and improve the quality of life for the student who are already here. Hopefully, it will attract students in the future.”

Guerra said that different types of plants will be involved with the Bobcat Trail construction.

“We use a plant palette that is in the master plan, so we use a lot of native plants,” he said. “Also, (we) try to use drought tolerant and low water intensive plants, and we are going to match the upper part of the trial that’s already been put in place and then add some trees. Otherwise, it will be a pretty hot space walking through there.”

Guerra talked about how heat is a factor on campus and how Bobcat Trail could resolve some of these issues.

“The heat island effect is when you bring in a lot of concrete and asphalt and mass amount of material that absorbs a lot of the heat radiation throughout the day,” he said. “So, we try to screening a lot of that concert work and the trail. We have a lot of handicap accessible ramps on the trail, so we try to minimize the heat effect on the trail by (incorporating) green spaces and trees to soften up the trail and (make it) a lot cooler to walk through, especially if we provide the shade and benches for people to enjoy that area.”

Bobcat Trail is scheduled to have its grand opening on campus next December.