A new trail in east Plano is estimated to start construction next summer after Plano City Council approved an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to fund the project.
City officials approved the agreement at a meeting June 22.
The gist
Los Rios Park Trail will connect Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt Park to Bob Woodruff Park with a 12-foot-wide paved concrete trail spanning 2 miles, according to city documents. Park Planning Manager Katie Dunham said the trail will come with benches, garbage facilities and other amenities for pedestrians and cyclists.
“This has been quite a long process. We’ve had a lot of learning to do along the way because the entire site is within the floodplain,” Dunham said.
Dunham said designs for the trail have been most impacted by the floodplain, which has led to a lengthier design process. Two creeks—Rowlett and Cottonwood—go through Los Rios Park.
The cost
TxDOT will be covering $4,365,900 of the project through a grant awarded to the city. Dunham said the total project cost is estimated to be over $5 million.
Grant funding has also contributed to the trail’s timeline, Dunham said, because both TxDOT and the North Central Texas Council of Governments have had to approve designs for the project.
“We’re trying to work with the land that we have and the space that we have,” she said.
Construction is expected to take a year once it’s begun, Dunham said.
The background
The new trail will be located at the former Los Rios Golf Course, according to city documents. The city purchased the land in 2014, and a master plan for Los Rios Park was developed in 2018 after community engagement, Dunham said.
Infrastructure for the former golf course was removed in spring 2020, per previous reporting, and design funding for the new trail was approved in March 2020.
