Community-created mountain bike structures are in the process of being removed along Cypresswood and Cypress Creek trails to make way for flood mitigation projects, Harris County officials confirmed.
As a result, members of the local off-road biking community are working with Harris County leaders to establish terms for future use in other areas of the county.
What’s happening
Staff from the Harris County Flood Control District began removing the mountain bike features in late April and will continue to do so over the next two months, said Emily Woodell, HCFCD chief external affairs officer.
Woodell said residents built the structures over several years along the two trails—both of which are HCFCD property—without authorization or proper permitting from the county. She said the flood control district welcomes “passive use” of the trails such as walking and cycling, but the unauthorized structures, including steep ramps and drops, raised safety and liability concerns for county leaders.
Why it matters
In addition to avoiding injuries, Woodell said HCFCD needed to remove the features to begin work on voter-approved mitigation projects along the two trails, which she said saw particularly high rates of flooding during Hurricane Harvey and the Tax Day storm.
“Our purpose as a flood control district is flood risk reduction,” Woodell said. “If we own land, that has to be the primary use. Trails and amenities are an amazing thing—we’re always going to be supportive of that—but mitigating flood risk and protecting lives and property has to be our first priority.”
Both projects are funded by Harris County’s 2018 bond program, the $2.5 billion package voters supported to finance flood risk reduction initiatives. Woodell said the work at Cypresswood Trail is also backed by federal CDBG-MIT funding.
The scope of work includes building a multicompartment stormwater detention basin to stop water from flowing into Cypress Creek during a heavy rain event, she said.
Another viewpoint
For some local mountain bikers, losing access to the features means losing the opportunity to practice their sport, said Ben Drews, president of the Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association, known as GHORBA.
Drews explained the structures are designed to help off-road bikers gradually progress at skills such as jumping and high-speed turns, and many young riders are able to build confidence by practicing in groups. He said he leads a skill-building ride each week where dozens of kids show up to “push their boundaries.”
“I think some people see the big massive features and go, ‘Oh my god, that’s so dangerous,’ and yes there’s risk with anything that you do, but the intent is you’re going to start somewhere small and work your way up, and that’s what you see in mountain bike trail systems,” Drews told Community Impact.
Drews acknowledged the structures were built on HCFCD property without a clear go-ahead, but he said opening the land for public recreation inevitably leads to community members wanting to shape the space into something they can use.
“They’re going out there and they’re trying to make space for something that currently in Houston there is little to no access to actual true mountain bike features,” he said.
Learn more
Drews said GHORBA had been communicating back and forth with HCFCD and Harris County Precinct 3 since 2022 to reach an agreement to keep the structures in place on the Cypresswood and Cypress Creek trails.
The proposed terms included that GHORBA fund professional design and construction of the structures, install warning signs and carry insurance for the features. However, in a May 6 email to Community Impact, Precinct 3 staff said GHORBA indicated they could not carry insurance coverage for the constructed features.
"It's the county's responsibility to ensure each structure on county property is the safest it can be and insured," Precinct 3 staff said. "The insurance requirement is the same for all our agreements with sports [and] athletic structures that are on county property."
Drews said GHORBA met with Precinct 3 staff April 29 to discuss a potential agreement for other trail sections, such as the 100 Acre Wood Trail near Cypress Forest Drive and Hwy. 249. Additionally, he said the association is in the process of workshopping an agreement with Precinct 4 to use similar structures on the Anthills Trail near Memorial.
"Safety is Commissioner Lesley Briones' top priority," a Precinct 4 spokesperson said in a May 6 email to Community Impact. "The area around the Anthills Trail system is prone to flooding and requires updates and repairs. We are actively working with [HCFCD] and GHORBA to identify a sustainable solution."
