Trails to provide safe route for pedestrians, bicyclists in DFW area

More than a dozen bicyclists, pedestrians and Colleyville city officials gathered in April on the freshly paved Cotton Belt Trail near the city's southwest border at L.D. Lockett Road to celebrate the completion of a new 2.8-mile portion of trail connecting Hurst to Colleyville.

Colleyville now has more than 33 miles of public and private trails, and the city is looking to add three miles more over the next five years as part of its master plan to connect Colleyville to its surrounding cities.

"This new trail segment connects us to our neighboring cities of Hurst and North Richland Hills, but more importantly, it connects us to each other," Mayor David Kelly said. "Not as videos, holograms, avatars or some other animated image in this new high-tech landscape, but as living human beings."

The trail's opening, however, is just a small milestone in much larger plans for the region.

Trail network

The Cotton Belt Trail system is part of the North Central Texas Council of Governments' 2035 Mobility Plan, which establishes an estimated $1.3 billion web of designated off-street trails in the DFW area stretching for 1,668 miles. When complete, the web being built with money from a variety of public sources will provide a network of connectivity for 116 cities, including Dallas, Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake and Fort Worth.

There are already 237 miles of existing off-street trails in the network, including the Cotton Belt Trail system, NCTCOG spokeswoman Deborah Humphreys said. She said the network will help take cars off the road and provide a mobility option for people without cars. The council also hopes that by offering additional off-road options to North Texas residents, it can see a decrease in traffic congestion and air pollution.

"It is basically an off-street network to encourage more people to ride their bikes or walk as opposed to single-occupancy trips," she said. "And of course, trails are also used for recreational purposes."

Colleyville has planned a quarter-mile trail segment that connects East Little Bear Creek Extension and Heritage Trail, which will provide connectivity on Little Bear Creek from North Richland Hills to Euless.

Colleyville and Grapevine are partnering on the planned .6 miles of trail from John McCain Road to Brumlow Avenue for the Cotton Belt Trail system. Grapevine has also planned a future 2.8-mile trail extension north of the Cotton Belt Trail into the City of Coppell, but funding for the project has yet to be determined.

"The connectivity is important for our citizens to be able to go on that trail to go to sporting venues, soccer fields, schools, shopping all along this area and to connect up with smaller trail spurs that come off of the main trail," said Joe Moore, Grapevine's assistant director of Parks and Recreation. "We look at the Cotton Belt Trail as our main spine."

Bicyclists and pedestrians will eventually be able to travel great distances along the Cotton Belt Trail system.

"It is a major east-west route that is envisioned to connect Fort Worth to Dallas along the historic Cotton Belt Rail line," Humphreys said.

Cotton Belt Trail system

The Cotton Belt Trail system runs parallel to the historic Cotton Belt Railroad tracks. It begins with 4.1 miles of trail in North Richland Hills and continues with .9 miles of trail in Hurst and stretches into Colleyville with 2.8 miles of trail ending at John McCain Road. Grapevine currently has 2.7 miles of trail from Brumlow Avenue to Ball Street. When the planned trail segment from John McCain Road to Brumlow Avenue is finished, the Cotton Belt Trail system will total 11.1 miles.

Colleyville's trail portion of the project totaled $1 million pulled from the park land dedication fund, the city's economic development corporation budget and a Texas Department of Transportation grant.

The Colleyville Parks and Recreation Department's goals are related to the city's strategic plan, which includes a long-term commitment to economic development, protecting and preserving the city's neighborhoods, and marketing Colleyville as a destination, said the department's director Monica Walsh, who retired in late April.

When the planned trail connecting Colleyville to Grapevine is completed, bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to travel from North Richland Hills to Grapevine. The project is on track to be completed when that portion of Hwy. 26 reconstruction is finished, Moore said. Funding for the trail project has yet to be determined.

Bud Zarsk, owner of bicycle shop Knobbies & Slicks celebrated the opening of the trail connecting Hurst to Colleyville, and he said he is looking forward to the safety that will come with the trail's completion.

"When they finish it will be awesome, because we use the portion coming in from Grapevine and then we have to hop on to the highway at 26 and that mile of road is a death trap," he said. "It needs to have a piece of trail there so that it can connect to the Cotton Belt because we use it all the time."