Farmington Trail Connectivity Plans Face Bridge, Cost Hurdles

Warren Unsicker used one word when asked about Farmington's effort to close the gap between the Gateway Museum area and the city's larger River Trail system: "complicated."

The specific obstacle is the Browning Parkway Bridge, a heavily-traveled four-lane crossing over the Animas River on the city's east side. Any trail alignment running westward from Gateway Park must negotiate that bridge by going under, over, or across it, and each option carries its own engineering demands and cost implications that city planners have yet to resolve. Add to that the physical constraints along certain riverfront stretches, where the margin between the water's edge and adjacent infrastructure is narrow enough to raise right-of-way, design, and environmental concerns about fitting a multi-use path through at all.

The city is working on a Phase I segment called the Animas River Trail North Extension, a 1.66-mile addition to the existing trail network. That segment begins behind Middle Fork Square and runs upstream to a terminus near the Pinon Hills Boulevard Extension, with additional parking and trail access near Herrera Road. The city already owns nearly 32 acres at the foot of Herrera Drive, land earmarked for a future park called Anesi Park that would serve as the northern trailhead. Construction on the segment had been slated to begin in winter 2025 according to city planning documents; no updated timeline has been publicly announced.

River crossings are what drive costs out of reach quickly. Pedestrian bridges and underpass structures capable of spanning the Animas are expensive, and Unsicker's office is weighing phased construction against available funding while exploring whether private operators might shoulder some of that load.

Unsicker said city staff "would still like to work with a private business to design and open a riverfront restaurant" along the corridor, and cited "serious discussions about opening a surf shop in the neighborhood." The Gatewave, the city's adjustable river surf feature at Gateway Park that opened in July 2025 as the first of its kind in the Four Corners region, sharpens the case for that surf shop: with a rideable wave already drawing participants to the east bank, a rentals-and-instruction operation now has a concrete customer base rather than a speculative one.

That dynamic matters beyond board rentals. When a public amenity like the Gatewave demonstrates real demand, the calculus shifts for both private investors weighing a riverfront lease and grant-makers evaluating whether a trail corridor is worth funding. Until Farmington resolves the bridge alignment question and closes the funding gap, the connection from Gateway Park to Anesi Park remains a designed intention rather than a walkable reality.